Light Combat Aircraft (LCA):India

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This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.

History of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)

The Times of India, December 20, 2014

History: LCA

Milestones

2001-15

The Times of India Jan 19 2015

Tejas , India Today

Chethan Kumar

Over 80 trial flights to test systems cancelled in 2014

As Team Tejas burns the midnight oil to integrate new weapon systems and upgrade other capabilities on the light combat aircraft (LCA) as mandated by the Indian Air Force (IAF), bad weather has taken away many flying hours, critical for testing such systems before certification. From January 4, 2001, when wing commander Rajiv Kothiyal flew the first LCA prototype to January 17, 2015, the day the first aircraft was handed over to the IAF, 2,850 trial flights of LCA have taken place. Notwithstanding the nature of tests each of these flights carry out, ranging from weapon delivery to navigation, trial flights are crucial, senior IAF officials say.

However, Team Tejas was forced to abandon 80 scheduled flights last year, some attempting to even test the Russian Gun integrated with an LCA prototype. IAF has been pressurizing Aero nautical Development Agency (ADA) which has designed LCA to have this feature on the plane.

ADA chief PS Subramanya told TOI, “Last monsoon saw 80 of our trial flights get cancelled, making them fly this year to check its efficiency.“ Without these test flights, ADA cannot guarantee IAF of the performance, nor get certification. In 2014, a total of 350 test flights took place, about 150 less than 2013. “...A few flights also had to be postponed due to technical reasons,“ Subramanya said.

The team, currently working on integrating mid-air refuelling capabilities on Tejas, is looking at achieving more than 500 flights in 2015, with a final operational clearance for LCA expected in 2016.

About 15 LCAs lie in the hangers of HAL, including the seven Limited Series Production (LSP) aircraft, two Technology Demonstrators, three Fighter Prototypes, two Trainer Prototypes and one Naval Prototype.