PV-3 Tejas aircraft makes flawless maiden flight

Bangalore, Dec 1: In yet another milestone towards achieving indigenous production of fighter aircraft, the prototype aircraft of Tejas, PV 3, piloted by Group Capt. Harish, made its flawless maiden flight here today.

This was the fifth aircraft to take to the skies, joining the fleet of two technology demonstrators (TD 1 and 2) and two proto vehicles (PV 1 and 2), launched by the State-owned aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

An official release here said the perfect maiden flight of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) was a result of maturity gained in development of various systems, better quality and rigorous ground testing. The aircraft had been cleared for flight testing in an envelope which meets the requirements of IOC. It would expedite the flight testing to expand and envelope fully and go for weaponisation.

The LCA programme, in spite of the many setbacks it faced due to the US sanctions, has moved forward and completed more than 570 flights. Eleven test pilots from the IAF, who had flown and evaluated these aircraft, had adjudged the handling qualities as one of the best in its class, the release said.

Tejas, after having proved to be a viable flying platform, is now converting into a weapon platform, with the integration and testing of various weapons and sensors planned over the next 18 months, the release said. The two-seater trainer prototype would be ready for flight during the first half of 2007 and the Naval variant of the LCA was also in an advanced stage of development and scheduled for its maiden flight next year. The Limited Series Production (LSP) was in full swing and the first four aircrafts would join the prototypes over the next 15 months, complementing the fleet, and cascading the sortie rate towards completion of required flight testing of IOC.

Tejas is equipped with all modern technologies such as Open System Architecture for Avionics to overcome obsolescence in the foreseeable future, digital Fly-by-Wire flight control for better agility, Glass Cockpit for convenience in flying, advanced composites for a lighter weight, enhancing Weapon Pay Load capability, making it a contemporary fighter, the release said.

UNI