The first Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAl) built Indian indigenous fighter jet Tejas, the light Combat Aircraft (lCA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF) was flown in the skies of Bangalore on Tuesday and is ready to get inducted.
HAl chairman RK Tyagi said in a statement, “The maiden flight of the first fighter in the limited series production for IAF was piloted by our chief test pilot Air Commodore KA Muthana (Retd) nine months after the regulator (Cemilac) gave the Initial Operation Clearance (IOC-II).”
Tejas the smallest and the lightest combat jet in the world and indigenously-built was certified in December 2013 by the Central Government for Military Airworthiness and Certification (Cemilac) of the State-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
“The aircraft is ready for the IAF operations. The other series aircraft are at various stages of production at our complex here,” Tyagi said. “We faced many challenges in designing and developing Tejas, including sanctions on import of carbon fibre, building tooling and manufacturing capability and world class manufacturing standards,” he added.
The IAF signed contract in 2006 for delivery of 20 Tejas (Mark 1) to form its squadron in the IOC configuration and the build standard documents for the fleet were finalised in September 2013. As a single engine, multi-role supersonic fighter, Tejas weighs around 8.5 tonnes and has capacity to carry three tonnes of weapons, including missiles and laser bombers. Tejas is expected to replace the ageing MiG fleet of the IAF in the coming years.