Tejas – The supersonic Light Combat Aircraft(LCA) increasing the strength of India

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Defense Minister A.K. Antony handed over the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) of Tejas to Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik at Bangalore. By this India joined the select club of countries making a fighter jet from scratch. The IOC involves specific process, including validation tests to determine the aircraft’s various operational functions, including avionics, subsystems, thrust, aerodynamics, propulsion and radar.

The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA ) which is, the supersonic fourth generation fighter will replace the aged russian made Mig-21. The project cost is Rs.5,778 crore. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL) will manufacture the first 20 Tejas aircraft in two batches of 10 planes each. HAL will continue to upgrade the indigenous fighter as the Indian Air Force plans to induct close to 200 LCAs and 20 twin seater trainer versions in the long run.

This is the first time an indigenously designed and developed military fighter aircraft has been certified for air force operations
-Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) official K. Jayaprakash Rao.