India's 1st self-made fighter jet, LCA Tejas, formally joins Air Force

Bengaluru: India’s first self-made fighter jet Light Combat Aircraft Tejas or LCA Tejas is finally ready to be used in operations by the Indian Air Force.

LCA Tejas received the final operational clearance for induction into the IAF as a fully-weaponised fighter jet.

At a special ceremony at the Aero India 2019 - India’s biennial air show in Bengaluru- the country’s military aviation regulator handed over the final operational clearance certificate and other release-to-service documents to Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa.

"It is a major milestone for the LCA (Tejas) to get the final operational clearance. The aircraft could fly in many sorties and has demonstrated the precision with which it can deliver weapons," Air Marshal Dhanoa said.

Air Marshal Dhanoa said, “LCA Tejas performed air-to-ground attacks and air-to-air refuelling at IAF's Vayu Shakti air display at Pokhran in Rajasthan on February 16.”

DRDO Chairman and Defence R&D Secretary G Satheesh Reddy said, "The grant of final operational clearance to LCA Tejas is a landmark day for India's aeronautical engineers, scientists, the Indian Air Force, the defence industry and allied businesses."

Calling the LCA Tejas's FOC aircraft a "major milestone", Air Marshal BS Dhanoa said, "You saw how much the aircraft could fly, the number of sorties it could generate in exercises 'Gagan Shakti' in April 2018 and in 'Vayu Shakti' in February this year."

The 45 Squadron of LCA Tejas has successfully flown over 1,500 sorties during trials.

"It is a fighter jet and behaved like a fighter. It did well both in air-to-air combat, as well as air-to-ground combat," the air chief said.