NEW DELHI – Indian Indigenous fighter aircraft Tejas of No 45 Squadron ‘TheFlying Daggers’ formally commenced operations from the Air Force Station atSulur near Coimbatore under Group Captain S Dhankhar on Monday.
The Southern Air Command base at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala has beenentrusted with the responsibility of integrating the fighter in Air Force’sConcept of Operations. Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (Southern AirCommand) RKS Bhadauria formally took part in the inaugural ceremony, anofficial release said.
Tejas is the first advanced Fly-by-wire fighter aircraft designed,developed and manufactured in India by Bengaluru headquartered HAL. It isequipped with a satellite-aided Inertial Navigation System.ADVERTISEMENT
The aircraft has a digital computer-based attack system and autopilot mode.It can fire Air to Air Missiles, carry bombs and Precision Guidedammunition. The ‘No 45 Squadron’ has been involved in training aircrew andwould now undertake operations and maintenance of the aircraft under GroupCaptain S Dhankhar.
With the deployment of Tejas, the ‘Flying Daggers’ would take up wartimerole towards safeguarding national skies, the release said. Air Marshal R KS Bhadauria congratulated the personnel and lauded the efforts put in bythe operations, maintenance and administration branches of the Air ForceStation Sulur, it said.