Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) of the southern air command, Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria flew the multirole fighter jet Light Combat Aircraft-Tejas for 30 minutes from HAL airport.

On this, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) claimed that it gave a boost to the induction and operationalisation of indigenously built Tejas.

HAL has established the state-of-the-art aircraft assembly line including second production line for Tejas to meet the operational requirements of the Indian Air Force.

Currently, HAL can manufacture eight LCAs per annum and the production capacity would go up to 16 in future. The ramping-up cost is shared equally by HAL and IAF/Navy.

Major sub-assembly such as front, centre and rear fuselages and wings have been outsourced to the private players, HAL release stated.

The IAF’s 45 Squadron ‘The Flying Daggers’ was the first squadron to be equipped with LCA-Tejas in July last year.

The Squadron which is expected to move to its permanent location at Sulur, near Coimbatore, next year is presently involved in training of air and ground crew, formulation of procedures and realisation of the operational potential of the aircraft.