Bangalore: India's first carrier-borne naval
fighter aircraft "LCA Tejas (Navy)" will take to the skies for its maiden flight this month, a top defence official said
on Friday, adding that it will form the air element of the Indian
Navy.
"LCA (Navy) will be flown in the month of December.I
think by the end of this month, it should fly", V K Saraswat,
Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Director General of
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said.
DRDO officials said the aircraft is currently going
through a phase of refinements based on feedback and
observations during the September EGR (Engine Ground Run) of
LCA Tejas (Navy) prototype NP1, followed by a series of final
integration checks and taxi trials before the first flight.
They said the aircraft will be operating with a wide
variety of operational weapons and equipments like the beyond
visual range missiles, anti-ship missiles, conventional bombs,
air defence guns and drop tanks.
Equipped with state-of-the art technologies and punch,
the aircraft is designed to operate from the future Indigenous
aircraft carriers the Navy plans to acquire, they said.
The team steering the project comprises members of
Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, HAL, DRDO, Centre for Military
Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC), Directorate General
of Aeronautical Quality Assurance (DGAQA), CSIR Labs,
educational institutions, and other public and private sector
partners.
Aeronautical Development Agency, a Bangalore-based
DRDO lab, is responsible for the design, development, build,
ground test and flight test of both the Naval and Air Force
versions of the aircraft.
PTI
First Published: Friday, December 02, 2011, 19:24