In a major vote of confidence, a senior Indian Air Force officer of Air Marshal rank flew the indigenously designed and developed Tejas Lig...
In a major vote of confidence, a senior Indian Air Force officer of Air Marshal rank flew the indigenously designed and developed Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) for the first time.
IAF Deputy Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal SBP Sinha flew on a two seat trainer variant of LCA Tejus on Wednesday at Bengaluru.
Having had the first hand experience and feel of the aircraft, Deputy Chief of Air Staff said that the aircraft handles well both on the ground and in the air.
He was on a two day visit to the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), which designed Tejus and manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) during which, he took a review of various aspects of Tejas program.
The first flight by a senior officer from Air HQ was a joyous occasion for all the stake holders of the program such as ADA, HAL, National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC).
PS Subramanyam Program Director (Combat Aircraft) and Director ADA said, "This flight of Tejas by a senior IAF commander indicates the high degree of confidence in the indigenous aircraft."
The Final Operational Clearance (FOC) of Tejus which was slated for 2014 end, has further slipped to early 2015. Meanwhile, roll out of the first production aircraft for squadron service has also slipped to 2015.
The LCA program began in the 1983 to replace India's aging MiG-21 fighters. Tejas is a fourth generation lightweight multi-role fighter jet featuring tailless, compound delta wing, powered by a single engine.
Tejus is built extensively using composite materials, one of the highest among contemporary aircraft of its class. It employs CFC materials for up to 45% of its airframe, including in the fuselage (doors and skins), wings (skin, spars and ribs), elevons, tailfin, rudder, air brakes and landing gear doors.
Tejus is equipped with a quadruplex digital fly-by-wire flight control system to ease handling of the inherently unstable aerodynamic design by the pilot. The unstable design increases maneauverability.
