BANGALORE: The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas detachment, which has conducted the last phase of flight trials from INS Hansa in Goa, has successfully test fired Chaff and Flares.
According to DRDO, after the successful release of R-73 missile on Thursday, the test aircraft Tejas LSP-4, piloted by Gp Capt Suneet Krishna, proceeded to test fire Chaff and Flares from the Counter Measure Dispensing System (CMDS) indigenously designed and developed by Bharath Dynamics Ltd (BDL), Hyderabad.
Chaff is a collection of fine fibre-coated aluminium particles that are released from the fighter aircraft for passive jamming of the enemy airborne radar.
Flares are high-intensity infra red source fired from the fighter aircraft, which acts as a passive jammer to the on-coming heat seeking enemy missile and deviates it from the target aircraft.
This test firing of Chaff and Flares from Tejas assumes special significance as this is the first time indigenously developed CMDS was integrated and tested on an i n d i g enous fighter aircraft with Open Architecture Mission Computer and Digital Stores Management System.
The release and trajectory of these stores were closely monitored by another Tejas chase aircraft flown in close proximity of the test aircraft.
Visual observation supported by analysis of video recording of the release event indicated that the trial was successful, meeting the stipulated design requirements of the system.