Defence PSU HAL achieves major milestone in TEJAS programme, Successfully completes a sortie in maiden TEJAS Trainer flight

• Defence PSU HAL successfully has completed a sortie in its maiden flight of TEJAS
• As a major milestone in the LCA Tejas Program, the first ever series production standard LCA Trainer (LT 5201) manufactured by HAL took to the skies for its maiden flight today from HAL airport and landed after completing a successful sortie of around 35 minutes.
• The TEJAS Trainer will be used as training aircraft for pilots who have completed advanced training
• There are plans to produce a total of 10 TEJAS FOC Trainers
• The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) TEJAS is a 4.5 generation, all-weather and multi-role fighter aircraft

Bangalore, April 6. Defence PSU HAL in a major milestone for the TEJAS program, the first-ever series production standard TEJAS Trainer manufactured by it successfully completed a sortie in its maiden flight on April 5.

“The first ever series production standard TEJAS Trainer (LT 5201) took to the skies for its maiden flight on April 5 from HAL airport and landed after completing a successful sortie of around 35 minutes,” HAL said in a statement.

The TEJAS Trainer will be used as training aircraft for pilots who have completed advanced training. The TEJAS FOC Trainer is part of the TEJAS MK-1A program. There are plans to produce a total of 10 TEJAS FOC Trainers, reports said.

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) TEJAS is a 4.5 generation, all-weather and multi-role fighter aircraft. TEJAS MK-1A is the most advanced version of the TEJAS.

The development comes weeks after a successful flight-test of Power Take Off (PTO) shaft was conducted on the Light Combat Aircraft TEJAS in Bangalore, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The PTO shaft is indigenously designed and developed by Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE), Chennai, of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The statement said the maiden successful flight-test of the PTO shaft was conducted on TEJAS Limited Series Production (LSP)-3 aircraft.

The PTO is a critical equipment that transmits power from aircraft engine to gearbox. It will support the requirements of future fighter aircraft and their variants and offer competitive cost and reduced time of availability.

With this successful test, the DRDO has achieved a greater technological feat by realisation of complex high-speed rotor technology that only a few countries have achieved.

In February, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said efforts are on to make Light Combat Aircraft TEJAS fully indigenous, and that it will be done “very soon”.