Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be flying in the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas in Bengaluru on September 19. He will be the first defence minister to fly this aircraft. Singh will take a sortie in a twin-seater version of the Tejas combat aircraft, which arm the Indian Air Force No. 45 Squadron ‘Flying Daggers’ based at Tamil Nadu’s Sulur Air Force Station.
“The Raksha Mantri will fly the LCA Tejas on Thursday in Bengaluru,” a defence official said. The indigeneous-built aircraft has been designed and developed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Aeronautical Development Agency.
The IAF had in December 2017 issued a request for proposal (RFP) to HAL for the 83 Tejas jets at an estimated cost of almost Rs 50,000 crore.
The Final Operational Clearance (FOC) standard certification, which means the aircraft is combat-ready, was issued by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to Tejas on February 21 during the Aero India show in Bengaluru. (UNI)
