Bangalore, January 10: Inching closer to modernisation with self sufficiency, India’s first homegrown supersonic fighter jet, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) ‘Tejas’, was handed over to the IAF by Defence minister, A K Antony after the Initial Operational Clearance. The LCA, which has remained under development for nearly three decades and braved technology denial regimes, has achieved the significant milestone in the presence of Defence Minister A K Antony and Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik.
Post clearance, the LCA will now take several flying missions and after that it will have to obtain its Final Operational Clearance (FOC) to be finally inducted into operational service, which is likely to happen by the end of 2012, Ministry officials said.
The IAF has plans to deploy the aircraft at one of its bases in Bangalore to do away with the “teething problems” in association with its designers and manufacturers, both of whom are based out of Bangalore.
Being India’s much-awaited project, LCA design and development by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was initiated in 1983 with a budget of Rs 560 crore.
–Agencies