IAF News & Discussion April-May 07

Tejas gets ready for Indian Air Force
Staff Reporter

Maiden flight marks the beginning of series production

BANGALORE: The first aircraft in the Limited Series Production of Tejas, the indigenously designed and developed Light Combat Aircraft, (LSP-1), made its successful maiden flight at the HAL airport here on Wednesday afternoon.

LSP-1 is the first aircraft to roll out of the HAL production hangar, marking the beginning of the series production of Tejas for induction into the Indian Air Force. The flight test was conducted by the National Flight Test Centre (NFTC), attached to the Aeronautical Development Agency.

The flight lasted 47 minutes, during which all the systems of the aircraft functioned “perfectly well,” according to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Piloted by Group Captain A.P. Singh, the aircraft touched an altitude of 11 km and supersonic speed of Mach 1.1, DRDO said in a release.

It was the first time in the country that any aircraft had gone supersonic in the very first flight.

As was customary for the first flight of a prototype, the LSP-1 was chased by another Tejas (TD-2) aircraft piloted by Wg. Cdr. N. Tiwari of NFTC.

Wg.Cdr. M. Prabhu was the test director at the telemetry control station for the test flight.