Advertisement
Piloted by Air Cmde. K A Muthana (Retd), Chief Test Flying (Fixed Wing), the aircraft took-off from HAL Airport at around 1230 hours, the Bengaluru-headquartered defence PSU said in a statement.
It was airborne for 40 minutes.
This flight signifies exemplary teamwork between various stakeholders of the LCA Tejas programme such as HAL, Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance, Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification, Indian Air Force and Aeronautical Development Agency, HAL CMD, R Madhavan said.
Related Articles
Advertisement
“This would pave the way for the production of remaining 15 fighters from FOC (Final Operational Clearance) block, which are planned to be delivered during the next financial year”, it said.
The FOC aircraft are equipped with advanced features such as Air-to-Air refuelling and Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile system.
“It imbibes a lot of manufacturing improvements which were based on the operational feedback of LCA IOC (Initial Operational Clearance) fleet with IAF,” HAL said.