Defence Minister Rajnath Singh flagged off the first Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A on Friday at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd’s (HAL) facility in Maharashtra’s Nashik. He also inaugurated the third production line of the LCA Tejas Mk1A, and the second production line of Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40) at the same facility.
HAL chief test pilot (fixed wing) Group Captain KK Venugopal (retired) piloted the Tejas Mk1A sortie, which was followed by exhilarating aerial displays by Sukhoi-30MKI and HTT-40. The Tejas Mk1A also received a water cannon salute.
NDTV spoke to Group Captain Venugopal, who said the LCA is a unique aircraft with all new-generation technology.
“The radar is new generation, the avionics is very capable, the Astra missile is integrated. We will also be adding standoff weapons. Because of all this, the LCA is a very capable platform,” the chief test pilot said.
“We hope that this aircraft will be a game-changer. After the MiG-21 was phased out recently, the Indian Air Force will have close to 220 Tejas, so this will become the mainstay of the IAF,” Group Captain Venugopal told NDTV.
What HAL Chief Told NDTV
HAL Chairman and Managing Director DK Sunil, who watched the new LCA Tejas take to the sky, told NDTV that the third production line of the Tejas inaugurated by the Defence Minister is a moment of pride for HAL and the nation.
“We will be able to speed up new aircraft deliveries to the Indian Air Force. We can give them 24 Tejas every year using the three production lines. We also have private partners who supply components,” Sunil said.
What’s significant about the Tejas is that all the hardware and software were developed in India.
“This is a very good thing because we can tweak them according to our needs. We don’t have to depend on anyone else,” the HAL CMD told NDTV, adding it is a true multirole fighter jet whose tonnage is huge compared to its size and its weapons can deal with land, air or sea threats.
In his address, Rajnath Singh described the flight of the Tejas as a shining symbol of India’s growing Aatmanirbharta in defence.
“When we came to power in 2014, we realised that without self-reliance, we can never be truly secure. In the beginning, we faced numerous challenges, the biggest being limited defence preparedness and import dependency. Everything was limited to government enterprises, and the private sector had no significant participation in the production ecosystem. In addition, there was not enough focus on defence planning, advanced technology, and innovation,” the Defence Minister said.
“This forced us to depend on other countries for critical equipment and cutting-edge systems, which increased costs and created strategic vulnerabilities. This challenge encouraged us to move forward in the direction of new thinking and reforms. The results are visible today,” he added.
The HAL CMD said the successful operationalisation of the LCA Tejas Mk1A and HTT-40 production from Nashik was a testament to the company’s capacity for expansion. He said HAL’s Nashik division’s capacity to produce indigenous advanced fighters in addition to Sukhoi-30MKI has added momentum to its production efforts to meet delivery timelines.