The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari reviewed the indigenous light combat aircraft (LCA) programme, ahead of the delivery of a new variant – Mk-1A – to the air force in February 2024, the Indian Air Force (IAF) said in a statement on Wednesday. During the review, Chaudhari described the LCA as the flag-bearer of India’s self-reliance in the aerospace sector.
The maker of the aircraft, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), informed that all contracted fighter variants of the LCA Mk-1 had been delivered to the IAF, and it assured the Chief of Air Staff of the timely delivery of the contracted twin-seaters in the coming months, according to the statement.
The IAF has inducted 32 aircraft out of 40 earlier variants of the LCA, and the remaining eight twin-seater trainers will be delivered in the coming months, HAL said. Further to the LCA Mk 1, 83 LCA Mk-1A aircraft were also contracted by the IAF in 2021, and the Air Force is now looking at ordering the latest version of the programme LCA Mk-2.
The new variant of the jet will be capable of firing a plethora of weapons, including beyond-visual-range missiles, and will be delivered to the IAF in February 2024, with the rest slated to join its combat fleet by 2029. The CAS indicated that the LCA Mk 1A could be inducted in a newly raised squadron in one of the IAF’s operational bases early next year. The IAF raised its first LCA squadron with two aircraft in July 2016, even though the project was sanctioned in 1983 as a replacement for the Soviet-origin MiG-21 fleet.
Notwithstanding the project delays that were brought out during the review, the CAS lauded the efforts of all stakeholders and emphasized the need to incorporate the lessons learnt from the LCA programme into future indigenous Design and Developmental projects. With timely deliveries of the more capable variant, the LCA Mk 1A is likely to see increased deployments at forward bases, besides participation in international exercises in the days to come, the statement added.
In April, HAL launched a third LCA production line in Nashik to ramp up the production of the fighter jet from the current 16 to 24 in anticipation of more orders. The other two production lines are in Bengaluru.
Team BharatShakti
