July 7, 2025:
India is upgrading its 83 new Tejas 1A jet fighters with millions of dollars’ worth of Israeli electronics. This includes an AESA radar, multiple electronic warfare systems and upgraded missiles. Pilots now use a helmet mounted sight and combat information system. Much of this equipment is now manufactured in India in partnership with Israeli firms.
Tejas 1A is a 13 ton delta wing aircraft with a payload of over five tons and a max speed of nearly twice the speed of sound. Combat range is about 749 kilometers while maximum operating altitude is 16 kilometers.
Tejas 1A is part of an ongoing effort to build more foreign technology locally and in sharp contrast to what happened six years ago when India decided to replace some of its Russian R77 long-range radar-guided missiles with the Israeli I-Derby ER. The Israeli missile was the latest example of these Beyond Visual Range Missiles/BVRM weapons and since Derby became available in 2015 it has achieved a reputation for reliability as well as being easy to adapt to new aircraft and easier to maintain. Moreover, Derby costs less than the R77 and AMRAAM. Most importantly, it came from Israel, India’s major source of high-tech weapons. India is the largest customer for Israeli weapons, especially missile systems and Indian users all confirm that the Israeli technology is more reliable and usually cheaper than the competition, especially Russian gear, which India has been using since the 1960s.
India considers Israel a much better supplier than Russia. The Derby ER is an improved version of the earlier Derby BVRM missile design which in turn was based on the Python 5, a long-range heat-seeking missile that has lots of combat experience and a reputation for reliability. Derby has proved to be very competitive with AMRAAM in large part because the Israelis use these weapons against the aerial threats it has been facing continuously for decades. Calling a system Combat Proven is a major factor in selling weapons and nearly all Israeli systems are combat proven.
India is already a user of the Israeli Python version in the form of a ground-based model that is used as an air-defense weapon in the Spyder system. In 2018 Derby was installed and tested on the Indian made Tejas light fighter.
The gold standard in BVRM is the American AIM-120 AMRAAM radar-guided missile, which cost about $1.5 million each and are exported to 25 nations. AMRAAM weighs 152 kg, is 3.7 meters long and 178mm in diameter. The first AMRAAM had a max range of 70 kilometers while the latest version can hit targets 160 kilometers away. The R77 is a bit larger and heavier than the AMRAAM while the Derby ER is a bit smaller and lighter, with a max range of 100 kilometers.
Since the late 1990s the AMRAAM manufacturer has made a major effort to improve reliability. Because so many AMRAAMs were fired during training and testing it was possible to measure and steadily increase reliability. This became a major factor in gaining export sales. For India, the lower cost of the Derby was also a factor as well as their experience with Israeli missile tech.
The R77 is known to be a poor choice for a BVRM. A decade ago China realized that the Russian R77 was unreliable. As of 2008, they had only bought about a thousand R77s, although the similar but capable Chinese PL12 was produced locally. Past experience with missiles like this was that several had to be fired for each aircraft hit. China has now used an improved BVRM missile, the PL-15. Although the Chinese models look good on paper, they have not been used in combat or as much as AMRAAM in training and test firings. For that reason, AMRAAM and Derby have a lead, with Israel offering a less expensive missile and one that is more likely to be used by Israeli pilots to defend the people who designed and built the missile.