The first squadron of indigenously designed and manufactured Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas was inducted into Indian Air Force (IAF).
State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) handed over the first two Tejas aircrafts to IAF as part squadron at the Aircraft System Testing Establishment in Bengaluru.
Key Points
The first squadron of LCA Tejas has been named as ‘Flying Daggers’.
Its base will be located in Sulur, Tamil Nadu. It will have total 20 aircrafts, including 4 trainers.
However, the two aircrafts will be operated initially by the squadron at Bengaluru for nearly two years.
Remaining 18 aircraft including 4 trainers will be inducted at Sulur base in 2018.
About LCA Tejas
Tejas is a single-engine lightweight multi-role fighter jet. It has been pegged as world’s smallest and lightest supersonic fighter.
It is outcome of India’s LCA programme, which began in the 1983 to replace country’s aging MiG-21 fighters.
It is a tailless and having compound delta wing design. It is powered by a single engine.
It is mounted with inbuilt MultiMode Radar (MMR), Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) systems.
It is equipped with a quadruplex digital fly-by-wire flight control system in order to ease handling by the pilot.
LCA Tejas has a limited reach of a little over 400-km. It will be mainly used for close air-to-ground operations.
Note: LCA Tejas is not the first indigenous fighter to be inducted into the IAF. In April 1967, IAF had formed the first operational squadron with the indigenous HF-24 Marut fighter.
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