BANGALORE: A day after the launch of the first indigenously developed radar imaging satellite, the Indian scientists scripted yet another success story: The naval version of the light combat aircraft(LCA) Tejas made its maiden flight today.
The LCA Naval Prototype 1 (NP1), which took off from the HAL Airport at about 12 noon, flew for 21 minutes and returned amid applause from high-profile gathering that included IAF chief NAK Browne and DRDO chief VK Saraswat. The Navy was represented by Vice-Admiral Satish Soni and Rear Admiral D Madhusudan.
NP1 was flown by Commodore JA Maolankar of the National Flight Testing Centre (NFTC), while Wing Commander M Prabhu, flight engineer with the NFTC, sat in the rear portion of the tandem-seating fighter jet.
Commodore CD Balaji, project director of LCA-Navy, PS Subramanya, Director of Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), and others associated with the design and development of the fighter jet were gripped by emotion and had tears in their eyes as Maolankar and Prabhu emerged from the cockpit after the aircraft successfully landed.
Both pilot and co-pilot went to the terminal building on the shoulders of their jubilant colleagues.
Maolankar later said they flew at a speed of 450 km per hour and carried out a series of tests mostly related to the handling of the aircraft.
“We stuck to a 30 km area around the base and flew in a fairly aggressive formation,” he said. “The first flight was primarily to validate the landing of the aircraft and this has been successfully accomplished,” he said.
The undercarriage (landing gear) of the plane was not retracted during the flight, he said.
Another LCA (Air Force) flew with the naval version as a chase aircraft while a British Hawk flew alongside the two LCAs as a stand-by aircraft.
“We still have a long way to go. Today was the first flight. This will have to be followed up by ramp take-off and the last step will be arrested landing. This is not easy technology,” Maolankar said.
Vice-Admiral Soni said the Indian Navy was in tremendous need of indigenously developed carrier-compatible fighter jets.