DRDO to develop new fighter aircraft

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has initiated talks with the Indian Air Force to design and develop a Medium Combat Aircraft (MCA), a fifth generation fighter plane.

"We have started drawing (designing) the next generation Light Combat Aircraft, which we call as Medium Combat Aircraft (MCA). We are in a dialogue with the users (IAF) to find out their design specifications," Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister and DRDO Director General V K Aatre told reporters in Bangalore on Friday.

"Sooner or later, perhaps, in a decade or so, we should build our own twin engine aircraft," he said.

The single-engine Light Combat Aircraft, called Tejas, is a delta-winged, tailless, fly-by-wire, supersonic fourth generation fighter under development by the Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA).

The fifth generation fighter will be powered by two indigenous thrust vector Kaveri engines and is likely to have stealth capability. The Kaveri engines, developed for the LCA, are under developmental trials.