With Prime Minister Modi’s announcement of the Sudarshan Chakra, India has effectively declared its own version of the Dome. However, developing and deploying such a capability will be extremely costly, requiring investments in the tens of billions of dollars. The first component, which is the simplest, involves enforcing the ADIZ. This would require several hundreds CAP fighters, such as the Tejas Mk1A, capable of scrambling within minutes of alert. It would also require radar systems such as HPRs and MPRs (Arudhra) to provide 24/7 surveillance of Indian airspace.

The futuristic Indian SSN will be powered by the CLWR-B2 reactor, a generation ahead of the CLWR-B1, which currently powers the S2 and S3 submarines, with an uprated variant of 120 MWth used in S4 and S4*. The CLWR-B2 is expected to deliver around 190 MW of thermal output and approximately 65 MW of electrical power, which would be a generation ahead of CLWR-B1. It is likely that uranium enrichment will be increased to 60–80%, up from the current 42.5% used in the CLWR-B1. This enhancement would extend the core life from the current 10–12 years to around 25–30 years, enabling longer deployments and higher operational tempos without reducing the core loading interval.

Here’s a short thread on the Tejas's Uttam radar. I originally intended to write about how the Indian Air Force (IAF) is aiming for total EMCON conditions for its fighters, and how it plans to leverage the Netra AEW&CS system—especially given the widespread confusion within the Indian OSINT community on this subject. However, that discussion wouldn’t be complete without first addressing the Uttam radar. The thread became quite long, so I may explore the EMCON and AEW&CS aspects in a separate post later. To begin with, calculating the peak power requires knowing the power handling capacity of each Transmit/Receive (T/R) module. According to the image I'm attaching, the X-band variant operates at 10 watts per module. If the information regarding the production variant of radar having 912 T/R modules is accurate, then the peak power can be estimated as:

912 × 10 = 9.12 kW

Let us conduct a comparative study between the Tejas Mk1A/Mk2 and the F-16 Block 70.

Databus:
The databus is a critical component in transitioning from 4th-generation to 5th-generation fighter aircraft, as it enables higher data fusion and greater bandwidth for advanced systems integration.
The F-16 Block 70/72 primarily uses the MIL-STD-1553 databus. However, to accommodate modern requirements such as high-resolution SAR imagery from the radar to the Center Pedestal Display, Lockheed Martin has incorporated Ethernet-based databus links for specific subsystems. In comparison, the Tejas Mk1A employs the 1553 databus across all systems. The upcoming Tejas Mk2, however, will feature an Ethernet-based databus for all major data transmissions, including radar, IRST, LDP, HMDS, and SDR-based datalinks—aligning it more closely with modern digital avionics architecture.

This advanced digital architecture will enable superior sensor fusion, enhanced situational awareness, and a significant reduction in pilot workload.