BANGALORE: A quarter of a century after the project was conceived and being dubbed “as more trouble than its worth”, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) ‘Tejas’ on Wednesday proved the theory that there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel, right.
The LCA, on the inaugural day of Aero India 2009, put up a flawless flight display and performed “neverseen- before” manoeuvres, which drew applause.
The take-off LCA from the Air Force Station Yelahanka tarmac was like any of 1,000-odd its has done since its maiden flight on January 4, 2001, but what was in store for the next 10 minutes showed the progress of not just the LCA project, but the indegenisation of India’s defence programme.
The LCA showed the capability of the aircraft and put any doubts to rest.
After viewing its performance, an excited Defence Minister A K Antony praised the show put up by the all those involved in the project.
“In the last 10 years, there has been a lot of noise made about the project about and why India is still continuing its experiments. Now I have hope that we can induct it to the IAF as the performance today by the LCA was the most exciting event of the day,” he said.