Amid ongoing border tension with China, the Indian Air Force on Tuesday deployed the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas on the western front adjoining Pakistan.
“The LCA Tejas was deployed by the Indian Air Force on the western front close to the Pakistan border to take care of any possible action by the adversary there,” government sources told ANI.
The indigenous Tejas aircraft had been praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day speech where he had stated that the deal to buy the LCA Mark1A version was expected to be completed soon.
Tejas is a single-engined, lightweight, highly agile, multi-role supersonic fighter. It has quadruplex digital fly-by-wire Flight Control System (FCS) with associated advanced flight control laws. The first LCA squadron – No. 45 Squadron ‘Flying Daggers’ – equipped with IOC-standard aircraft became operational in July 2016.
The IAF already operates 20 Tejas jets in Initial Operation Clearance (IOC) in the 45 Squadron while the 18 Squadron will also have 20 jets in FOC version with 16 fighters and 4 trainers.
