New Delhi: Jitendra J Jadhav, the man who steered the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) for the TEJAS fighter aircraft, has taken over as the Director General of Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) which is designing India’s next set of military planes.

At the top of his agenda will be the MK-2 version of the TEJAS as well as the 5th generation advanced medium combat aircraft, or AMCA.

The ADA is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Defence established in 1984 to oversee development of the light combat aircraft (LCA) program.

It has developed the TEJAS, which is in use with the Air Force, and is now fashioning the TEJAS MK-2 and the AMCA. The agency is also designing and developing the twin-engine deck-based fighter (TEDBF) which will be operated by the Navy.

After taking charge on 11 September, the major project that will need Jadhav’s attention will be the first flight of TEJAS MK-2 in the fourth quarter of 2025 apart from rolling out the AMCA.

The proposal to design and manufacture India’s indigenous fifth generation fighter aircraft, AMCA, was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in March.

Policy reforms towards laboratory growth and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) techniques in future aircraft are also areas Jadhav will look into.

A statement issued by the ADA said Jadhav is a distinguished scientist who joined the agency in 1999 as a scientist engineer. He has about 37 years of experience in design and development of combat aircraft, civil transport aircraft and flying trainers and associated systems.

As per the statement, he steered the IOC of TEJAS and its induction into the Indian Air Force as Project Director (TEJAS MK-1) in 2013.

He also led the weaponization of TEJAS as a lethal platform and developed key technologies, such as mission and display computer, digital weapon management system, and the flight dynamics simulator.

In September 2022, he was made the Director and Program Director (Combat Aircraft) in the ADA.

According to the statement, some of his major contributions include the release of military-type certification of series production trainer (SPT) aircraft, the successful maiden flight of naval prototype (NP5), a demonstration of the maiden arrested landing of TEJAS Navy on INS Vikrant, and the first flight of TEJAS MK-1A.

During his tenure as Director, CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories, he revived the SARAS project, the type certification of Hansa-NG (2-seater flying trainer), the development of high-altitude solar-powered platform (HAP) as a pseudo satellite as well as the regional transport aircraft to promote connectivity.

(With Inputs From Agency)