Is Indian Tejas I fighter a failure or a success? Both. If we go by the Indian Air Force's specification, Tejas fails. But if we go by the level of technology mastery India has achieved, the aircraft is a success. The IAF's rejection of the Tejas on grounds of not meeting requirements is a red herring, invalid, and irrelevant. The IAF has forgotten that it has never operated with top-of-the line fighters. In 1949 the Vampire entered the IAF service, at the same time as the NextGen F-86 started with the USAF. The Hunter was inducted around 1956, the NextGen F-100 was already in US service. The MiG-21 arrived in 1965, but the US F-104, a much more advanced aircraft, was in service in 1960. The Su-7 entered IAF service in 1968, but the very much more advanced F-105 entered service in 1958. The MiG-23 arrived in service in 1980, the far superior F-16 entered service two years before. The Mirage 2000 entered our service ten years after the F-16 operationalised. The MiG-2...