NEW DELHI – Indian Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas has successfully firedan air-to-air beyond visual (BVR) range missile, demonstrating its overallcapability as an effective combat jet, and inched closer to receive finaloperational clearance, decade after Pakistan achieved the same onindigenous built JF – 17 fighter jet.
Defence ministry officials said the test firing of the missile from a Tejasjet was carried out on Saturday off the Goa coast and it met alloperational requirements.
Earlier, Tejas was given clearance for deployment of armaments and othermissiles.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) had ordered 40 Tejas Mark-1 version and arequest for proposal (RFP) was issued to HAL by the IAF in December forprocurement of another batch of 83 Tejas at a cost of around Rs 50,000crore.
Officials said the successful launch of the BVR missile will expediteissuance of the Final Operational Clearance (FOC) to the aircraft developedby state-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) andAeronautical Development Agency (ADA) of Defence Research and DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO).
“The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) successfully fired Derby air-to-air BVRRange missile to expand the firing envelope as well as to demonstrate safeoperation of the aircraft,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
It said the missile was launched from the LCA piloted by Wing CommanderSiddharth Singh yesterday from the firing range off the Goa coast afterexhaustive study of the missile separation characteristics.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman complimented the DRDO and otheragencies involved in making Tejas a world-class aircraft.
DRDO Chairman S Christopher said with this firing, the Tejas has achievedanother major milestone towards FOC certification.
“Integration of Derby, a BVR class missile, is one of the major objectivesof Final Operational Clearance (FOC) of LCA Tejas,” said the ministry.
The aircraft was tracked by two other Tejas aircraft in close formation tocapture the firing event in the specially instrumented high speed camerasfor detailed analysis of the test launch of the missile.
The entire planning, practice sorties and final firing was carried out byADA and its National Flight Test Centre (NFTC).
“Based on the successful integration and demonstration, Regional Centre forMilitary Airworthiness (RCMA), a unit of DRDO has cleared the seriesproduction aircraft of squadron 45, to be equipped with Derby operationalcapability,” the Ministry said.
It said Tejas has successfully completed a series of captive flight trialsto clear Derby for the full operational capability.