Bangalore, India | June 14, 2010
The Indian Air Force (IAF) will form the first squadron of the light
combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas in Bangalore next year before it is moved
to Sulur, IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal P.K. Barbora tells AVIATION WEEK. (Sulur is located near Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.) The
initial formation of the LCA squadron in Bangalore is primarily due to
IAF’s proximity to the aircraft’s designer, the Aeronautical
Development Agency; its manufacturer, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL);
and IAF’s test pilots’ unit, the Aircraft System Testing Establishment.
In addition, the National Flight Test Center (NFTC), which is
monitoring all LCA-related flying activities, is also within HAL’s
military airport. "Training becomes easier in Bangalore for
the IAF pilots on the new platform. In addition, any teething problems
that the pilots might face while getting accustomed to Tejas can be
sorted out before they move to Sulur,” an NFTC source says.
Phase-II hot-weather trials over: Meanwhile,
Tejas crossed a significant hurdle when two LCAs successfully performed
in hot-weather trials (HWTs) at Nagpur last week. Sources told AVIATION
WEEK that the week-long HWTs were part of Tejas’ phase II schedule. The
first phase was completed in 2008. “All new systems onboard
and avionics were tested with temperatures varying from 40 to 45
degrees Celsius (104 to 114 deg. F.). We had absolutely no issues with
these flights, and both platforms rose to the occasion and performed as
expected. We had close to 10 flights as part of the trials,” a source
says. Confirming the successful
HWTs, P.S. Subramanyam, program director for combat aircraft and
director of the Aeronautics Development Agency, says that one limited
series production-3 aircraft and another prototype vehicle-3 from the
Tejas fleet were part of the HWTs at Nagpur.
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