BENGALURU: Tejas, India’s indigenously designed and developed light combat aircraft, was on Friday inducted into the Indian Air Force.
It joins the Flying Daggers 45 Squadron as a replacement for the ageing MiG-21.
The government-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd handed over two Tejas aircraft, with an initial operational clearance (IOC) configuration, to the IAF in Bengaluru.
A low-key ceremony at the Aircraft Systems Testing Establishment marked the milestone.
Soon after its induction, Group Captain Madhav Rangachari, Commanding Officer of the Flying Daggers, flew Tejas for about 10 minutes.
“I felt on top of the world,’’ said the veteran test pilot with over 3,000 hours of flying experience. “Compared to the Mirage, this is a superior aircraft. A generation ahead of it.”
The milestone came three decades after the project was initiated in 1983. The IAF will have to wait longer to get the required numbers to make optimum use of the fighter. The first full-fledged squadron of 20 aircraft will be in place by end of 2018.
The IAF, working closely with the Aeronautical Development Agency and the HAL, hopes the project will be expedited.
“The induction of two aircraft is a big milestone for the IAF. After this things will move at a rapid pace,’’ said Air Marshal Jasbir Walia, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Air Command.
The squadron will operate from Bengaluru for two years before it moves to its designated location at Sulur near Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, said Walia, under whose command the first Tejas squadron will be operating.
After getting the first batch of 20 aircraft with IOC, the IAF will get 20 more with the final operational clearance (FOC) configuration. After that, it will get 80 in a more advanced version, called LCA Mark1A.
The capability to carry advanced weapons and perform complex manouevres is the major difference between the IOC and FOC variants of the fighter.
Suvarna Raju, Chairman and Managing Director of HAL, set no specific date for the FOC but indicated it was likely by 2018.
“The HAL is ramping up its production. We are not waiting for anything, and will continue to produce the aircraft,’’ he said.
Dr S Christopher, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D, said Team Tejas was proud as “an idea from the 1980s is today turning into a reality.”