Tejas Misfire During Vayusakti 24

During the recent Indian Air Force Air Power Demo dubbed Vayusakti 2024 in Pokhran Test Range.

The exercise involved all the mainstay of current IAF fleet involving fighters, UAVs, transport and helicopters. The aircrafts were put through its paces and showed its prowess to the foreign dignitaries and diplomats whom were present. 

However during one of the sequence the indigenously built HAL Tejas 1A launched an R73 IR air to air missile, only to miss the intended target (drone). 

This can be clearly seen in the YouTube videos from minutes 50.54 to 51.09 with the commentors stating " the missile came close to the target, in real situation it would have been blown off by the proximity fuze".

India still has a long way to go in indigenous defence technology and a lot of catching up to do. Despite the fact the missile was Russian origin, the launch platform is still Indian and so was the pilot.

Improving quality in training and production for both men and machine needs to be addressed seriously.