With its indigenous Kaveri engine repeatedly delayed, India is looking to foreign engines to power light combat aircraft (LCA), the Tejas, and Eurojet is pitching its EJ200 as a competitor to the GE F414, and they are promising some, “special sauce”, thrust vectoring.

Unspoken in this bid to power the diminutive delta is the concerns that the Indian government has regarding ITAR restrictions which could hamstring sales to other nations.

This is also what is driving India’s interest in procuring an AESA radar from EADS for an upgraded version of the fighter.