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Journalism of Courage
BANGALORE, JAN 4: The first protoype of India8217;s indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft LCA, billed as one of the most advanced multi-role fighter planes in the world, took to the wings in a successful maiden flight here today, officials said.
LCA, said to be the smallest light weight multi-role combat aircraft in the world, took to the azure skies in clear weather, marking the beginning of a series of test flights.
Scientists were relieved as weather was the deciding factor for the test flight and cloudy weather for the last couple of days in the city had created uncertainty.
quot;We have just now completed the test,quot; Aeronautical Development Agency ADA Director and Project Director Kota Harinarayana said soon after the 20-minute flight, describing it as quot;successfulquot;.
Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A Y Tipnis closely monitored the LCA8217;s short sojourn in the sky.
The first tryst with the skies for the LCA comes after 15 long years of the Rs 3,000 crore project, plagued by delays and sanctions.
The country8217;s scientists battled all odds to provide the IAF a suitable home-built aircraft.
According to sources at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Tipnis monitored the performance, flying in one of the two Mirage aircraft which followed the LCA on its path.
The LCA, India8217;s first modern fighter aircraft, designed specifically to meet the requirements of the Indian Air Force IAF, is expected to be inducted into the IAF by 2004, an earlier date than what was feared.
Reports by the Defence Ministry to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence had stated that the LCA could be operational only in 2012.
ADA sources said the single-seat, single-engine tactical fighter, LCA, which brings together decades of scientific and technological research in the country, has incporated state-of-the-art technologies in every aspect of design and development.
Designed to meet the stringent deay8217;s war scenario, LCA would be the frontline combat aircraft of IAF, the sources said.
Troubled history
BANGALORE: The successful first test flight of the LCA has showcased the determination of the Indian scientist in overcoming a chequered history of development and progress of this prestigious fighter jet, intended to be the backbone of the IAF.
The LCA is India8217;s second indigenous jet fighter, after the HF-24 Marut of the 1950s. Its development began in 1983 when most experts were sceptical because the country did not have the experience of fabricating such a sophisticated aircraft that can be compared with the likes of F-16s.
The basic design was finalised in 1990 and two prototypes were originally meant to fly the next year and manufacture was scheduled to start by 1995 to meet the induction deadline, which was towards the end of the century.
The first speculations over the future of the project came in 1990 when the then Air Chief S K Mehra announced in Bangalore at the meeting of the Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine, that the IAF was looking for an alternative to the indigenously developed LCA due to delays in the execution of the project.
