The LCA was rechristened as ‘Tejas’ and took to the air on January 4, 2001.
New Delhi:
The indigenous fighter jet Tejas crashed today in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer near a hostel complex. This is the first-ever crash of the indigenous fighter in 23 years of its history which began with the first test flight in 2001.
5 Facts about the Tejas fighter jet
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Tejas is a single-seater fighter aircraft and a twin-seat trainer variant is also operated by the Air Force. The Indian Navy also operates the twin-seater variant. The first test flight of the Technology Demonstrator-1 (TD-1) took place in 2001 and the maiden flight of the Second Series Production (SP2) Tejas aircraft of Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) configuration took place on March 22, 2016.
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Light Combat Aircraft Tejas is a 4.5-generation multi-role fighter aircraft and is designed to take offensive air support and provide close combat support for ground operations.
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Tejas is the smallest and lightest aircraft in its class and the dimensions and the extensive use of composite structure make it lighter. In 2016, The first IAF Squadron to induct the Tejas was the No 45 Squadron, the ‘Flying Daggers’.
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The Indian Air Force presently operates 40 Tejas MK-1 aircraft and the IAF has 83 Tejas MK-1A fighters on order in a deal worth Rs 36,468 crore.
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The Indian Air Force plans to replace the ageing MiG-21 aircraft with the LCA Tejas Mark 1A aircraft by 2025. The LCA program was envisioned in the late 1980s to replace the MiG-21s that have been serving the Air Force since 1963. The LCA was rechristened as ‘Tejas’ in 2003.
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