A MiG-23 takes off from the Srinagar airbase. (PTI)

Bangalore, June 5: The swadeshi element in the Indian Air Force fleet will swell soon with defence laboratories set to design a fifth generation (advanced) multi-role fighter jet with features of stealth and electronic warfare systems.

The homegrown medium combat aircraft (MCA) will eventually replace the Jaguar, Mirage 2000, MiG-23 and the MiG-27, now being flown by the country’s air strike wing. It will be designed at Bangalore’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) — the one that built the light combat aircraft Tejas — along with a host of laboratories of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

The first step towards building the MCA — the project definition phase where the design of the fighter jet and other key attributes are laid out — will be initiated now and completed in a year.

According to V.K. Aatre, DRDO chief and scientific adviser to the defence minister, the confidence to venture into a project of this magnitude came from recent successes — of the LCA, advanced light helicopter and the light transport aircraft.

“We have written a preliminary report and started a dialogue with our colleagues. We have been talking to the users (IAF) and are looking forward to the ASR (air staff requirements that define the capabilities the fighter should have).”

Aatre said the ADA would begin focusing on the new fighter jet in the next two months, possibly August, after the maiden flight of the second prototype of the LCA. The Tejas is on course for integration of weapons (2005-06), initial operational clearance and induction into the IAF by 2010.

“I am confident the government will place orders for two squadrons (40 fighter jets) for the IAF by then (2010),” he said. His colleagues, too, were optimistic of pulling off the project with the experience gained in design and fabrication of Tejas.

Certain crucial components like the wings, the Kaveri engine and some systems and sub-systems of Tejas will be used for the new fighter aircraft. This will help scale down development costs from the projected $2 billion budget. At a later stage, the production lines set up for Tejas could be upgraded to roll out the MCA.

“At this point, all we can say is that it will be a twin-engine, tailless delta wing (swept back wings) design without a vertical stabiliser or rudder. To enhance its stealth capabilities, we plan to fit the external fuel tanks on top of the wings and for internal carriage of weapons,” a colleague of the DRDO chief said.

The MCA will have a range of 800-1,000 km and match the requirements of fifth generation fighters.