Tejas undergoes flight trials for induction

Bangalore, June 19 (UNI) Tejas, the indigenously developed advanced combat aircraft, is undergoing development flight trials at Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu for Initial Operational Clearance (IOC).

A Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) release here today said the flight trials of Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) for developing and designing Tejas was proceeding satisfactorily before declaring it fit for induction into the Defence Services.

Tejas had already completed Full Scale Engineering Development Phase I and it was tested in wide range of altitude and temperature conditions as part of the development flight testing, the release said.

The current sea level trials on at INS Rajali, Arakkonam was to assess the aircraft's performance under hot and humid conditions close to sea level.

The Indian Navy, a stakeholder in the programme, was giving full support to the flight test team.

A mobile telemetry system had been set up at INS Rajali by NFTC to monitor and control the flight-test.

The Photo Vehicle-3 had been undergoing flight tests for a week.

Prototype Vehicle-2, which had special design features to withstand hot ambient conditions, flown by Air Commodore RKS Bhadauria, Project Director (Flight Test) at the National Flight Test Center, ADA had also joined the campaign at Arakkonam.

UNI