With the sukhoi-30mki and Rafale, India went for a high-higher approach. These are expensive aircraft, equivalent to the F-15. Is India still pursuing the Tejas for the ight Combat Aircraft (LCA) program?
Not necessarily. The Rafale (and the rest of the MMRCA contenders) are lighter/smaller than SU-30 and F-15 and would at least on paper, have lower operating costs and higher sortie rates. So it’s essentially a high-tech work horse. Which is why it was called the Medium-MRCA aircraft. The SU-30, while having a heavy payload, has a significantly larger radar cross section and an older array of Russian built strike munitions.
The Tejas is still being pursued albeit in a reworked Mk2 variant which uses the GE F-414 engine. You could say the Tejas-Rafale-SU30 form a light-medium-heavy combination. The reason why the MMRCA deal was pursued and could in fact be jacked up in numbers is the continued uncertainty over the Tejas as well as the possible need for cover for possible delays with the Russian PAK FA fighter.