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The Tejas is back. India’s first – and smallest – lightweight, single-engine supersonic multiple-role combat aircraft is set to return. That's because the Narendra Modi Administration has decided to induct at least seven squadrons of home-made Light Combat Aircraft into the Indian Air Force.

It's a somewhat contentious decision. The IAF had wanted to acquire 36 fighter planes from Dassault Aviation SA, but the central government turned down the request. On the face of it, this might be construed as an attempt to boost the much-vaunted Make in India programme, but a funds crunch may also have something to do with it.

As an official from the Defence Ministry told The Economic Times, "The IAF needs to have a minimum number of aircraft at all times. The LCA is our best option at this stage, given our resource constraints." Indeed, the Modi government has constantly stated its goal of cutting of the IAF's inclination for imports. India is at present the largest importer of foreign arms in the world.

Earlier, the government had also stopped the purchase of an additional 44 Rafale medium multi-role aircraft. According to a defence ministry official, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told the IAF that there weren't enough funds to expand the Rafale acquisition, and that it must instead induct an improved version of the indigenous Tejas Mark 1A.

But there's problem. Fifty-three, in fact, going by the results of an independent investigation by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, into the LCA programme. It highlights 53 "shortfalls” in the aircraft, including its ability to carry weapons and a radar system. The plane is also reported to have a lower speed than required.

"It is a very short-range aircraft which has no relevance in today's war fighting scenarios. If you are trying to justify this as a replacement for follow-on Rafales, you are comparing apples with oranges," Retired Air Marshal M Matheswaran, a former deputy chief of the Integrated Defence Staff, told The Economic Times.