Zarvan
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2011
- Messages
- 54,470
- Reaction score
- 87
- Country
- Location
by Avinash Nair
Status of LCA Tejas
Commodore CD Balaji, Director of Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) said that the final operational clearance (FOC) for the indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft – Tejas – that was recently inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF), is expected to get further delayed to the middle of 2017.
Commodore CD Balaji told The Sunday Express on the sidelines of a symposium on “Technologies in Defence and Internal Security” organized by the Indian Institute of Technology-Gandhinagar (IIT-Gn) on Saturday.
“The LCA has completed about 3270 flight tests…. We are expecting to receive the final operational clearances by the middle of next year,” he said.
Squadron Strength
All squadrons of Tejas will be made up of 20 planes in total, including four in reserve. As per the plan, while 20 would be inducted under the "Initial Operational Clearance", another 20 will be inducted later with Beyond Visual Range Missile (BVR) and other critical features. The IAF plans to induct over 80 aircraft with better specifications.
The upgraded version of Tejas, with Active Electrically Scanned Array Radar, Unified Electronic Warfare Suite, mid-air refueling capacity and advanced beyond the vision range missiles, will cost between Rs 275 crore and Rs 300 crore. While the idea to have an indigenous fighter aircraft was conceptualized in the 1970s, the actual work started only in the 90s and the first flight took place in January 2001.
http://indianexpress.com/article/in...hield-former-drdo-chief-v-k-saraswat-3097995/
