A joyful moment for all those who were waiting for years (rather more than a decade since the first prototype flown  in 2001)  puzzling "When will LCA Tejas take to the Air Force..." . The much awaited IOC-II finally succumbs and LCA tejas finally gets in to Indian Air Force.

On 20th december,2013 the Defence Minister Shri AK Antony  handed over the Release to Service Certificate of the country’s own Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Tejas, to the Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne, at a function in Bengaluru, marking the fruition of a long and difficult journey of three decades of efforts to make a fighter aircraft of international standards

Having woken up to the progress made by countries like China in developing indigenous engines for military aircraft late, the Union government has directed the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to fast-track the ‘Kaveri’ engine project conceived as the power plant for the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). Much of the criticism for LCA Tejas can be contributed to Kaveri engine. The indigenous engine development somesaulted many target dates, that it was finally jettisoned from the LCAs project officially in september,2008 and is generally written off as a 25-year, Rs. 2,100-crore drain on resources. But now it looks set to resume where it left off two years ago and complete the last lap of its development. GTRE (Gas Turbine Research Establishment , a lab under the DRDO in Bangalore is the developer of the kaveri engine) is now running two separate successor engine programmes, the K9+ programme and the K10 programme.

'Tejas' is the smallest , light weight, single engine tactical, supersonic, multirole, combat aircraft, best in its class in the world and is being developed by ADA, DRDO and HAL in single-seat fighter and twin seat trainer variants for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy. This programe which was initiated in the 1980s crops up in news now and then where critics questioning the delay/capabilities and admirers lauding its strengths/technologies come up in equal voice. I am one of those eagerly waiting citizen of India to see the Tejas flying high bringing laurels to the nation. As I keep searching the web to know what is happening with the Tejas - I am just presenting the information I came across

India on 21 December 2012 test launched its indigenously developed beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air interceptor missile Astra at the interim test range (ITR) at Chandipur in Odisha. The missile was fired from the launch pad number two of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) run missile testing centre at around 13.30 hours to confirm its reconfigured propulsion, control and guidance systems.

India amid challenging neighborhood,  already participated  in four wars with Pakistan, including one undeclared war and one war with China since the partition in 1947, as well as many border skirmishes and military stand-offs. Additionally, India has accused Pakistan of engaging in proxy wars by providing military and financial assistance to violent non-state actors. So India is pulling all it's resources to update and to equip it's defence forces with the Modern warfare. India is following a two prong approach, buying from the world players through defence deals with various countries and producing in-house by developing the skill  bank and industry. The indiginizing effort now a days gained good momentum even though not up to the required extent. LCA tejas , Kaveri Engine , Medium Combat Air Crafts etc. are at various stages of development. 

In th urge to develop advance technology in-house , India has moved a step closer to developing it's own Airborne Early Warning and Control System

Indigenously developed micro-light and pilot-less target aircraft Lakshya-1 was successfully test flown from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near Balasore on Tuesday.

'Lakshya-1, fitted with an advanced digitally controlled engine was successfully test flown at about 11.40 AM to check the validity of its engine and duration enhancement, defence sources said."It is a routine trial by the users," the sources said.

Indigenously designed and developed RUSTOM-1 made 5th successful Flight on 11th November, while flying at an altitude of 2300 ft AGL (above ground level) & at a speed 100 Knots during 25 minute of cruise near Hosur. It may be noted that this Medium Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MALE - UAV) is developed by DRDO with Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) Bangalore as the nodal laboratory. It had its maiden flight in 2010.