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Apparently it started a few months ago. They have begun ordering long lead items and parts and the metal cutting already happened at HAL. Fabrication of the entire Tejas Mk2 prototype will be done by August 2021.
It is very similar to a Mirage-2000 or Gripen E in terms of it's weight, internal fuel and payloads.
The empty weight target is 7800 kgs as far as I know. That is 200 kgs LOWER than Gripen E.
17,500 kgs is the MTOW, which is 4000 kgs higher than Tejas Mk1 and Mk1A.
Internal fuel and drop tanks capacity is shown in the table below. Very similar to Mirage-2000 specs. At 3388 kgs, it's 33% more than the max internal fuel carried by a Tejas Mk1, which is 2458 kgs.
max external payload = 6150 kgs
Given that it has more fuel efficient engine than a Mirage-2000 and greater internal fuel fraction, the range will be great. Plus with A2A refueling and OBOGS, no limit on the endurance. Only getting fuel tankers to tank up will be an issue.
Why there is no mention about the engine delivery from GE if the prototype is going to be unveiled in August this year?