Naval- LCA Completes first Supersonic Flight

According to Press Release by Aeronautical Development Agency ( ADA ) Developers of Light combat aircraft ( LCA ) they have informed that Naval-LCA NP-1 on 22-March-2014 successfully completed its first supersonic flight and according to sources close to idrw.org NP-1 achieved Mach 1.1 in its first supersonic flight .

Naval Prototype ( NP-1 ) was grounded for more than a year after its first flight in 27 April 2012 and at that point had carried out only Four flights during initial period of testing . NP-1 was later grounded to carry out weight reduction measures on undercarriage and also to fix issues with its landing gears

NP-1 resumed test flight only in november last year and according to DRDO and ADA officials all Structural issues and Problems related to NP-1 have been fixed and further testing are under way to check and validate modification and changes which has been carried out on the aircraft .

Till 5th of this month , NP-1 has successfully carried out 19 test flights and once first phase of testing on Naval LCA are completed in Bangalore , ADA will move NP-1 aircraft to INS Hansa Naval base in Goa to carry out second phase of testing which will involve takeoff and landing on Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) which is replica of India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant being built at Kochi.

SBTF, which was commissioned recently, is primarily used for flight testing of Naval aircraft that operate from aircraft carriers. This is also makes India among Elite Nation since this third such facility in the world, after the United States and Ukraine. Naval Mig-29k pilots are already getting training for aircraft Carrier launch and landing from this facility and soon NP-1 will join in for more testing of the aircraft .

DRDO also is working on Single-seat LCA MK 1 Naval variant ( NP-2) for carrier operations , which is already under construction and will be ready for first flight by year end . Navy already has placed orders for 8 Limited Series Production (LSP) aircraft based on N-LCA MK-1 configuration which mostly likely will be used for Pilot training before N-LCA MK-2 which will be powered by more powerful General Electric F414-GE-INS6 engine will only be ready by 2018-19 .

Source:- Naval- LCA Completes first Supersonic Flight | idrw.org