Air Chief Marshal AP Singh on Sunday flew the Tejas light combat aircraft from Jodhpur airbase, the Indian Air Force chief’s last flight before he retires on October 31, officials aware of the matter said.
The sortie during multilateral combat exercise Tarang Shakti also turned the spotlight on the LCA’s latest Mk-1A variant, which represents the next chapter in India’s homegrown fighter story, officials said.
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What did IAF chief fly?
The LCA Mk-1A is finally nearing induction into the IAF after missing several deadlines. Both the IAF and state-run aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) are confident the locally built, single-engine fighter will enter service by year-end.
The aircraft that the Chief of Air Staff flew is the LCA’s first variant — the Mk-1. The air force currently operates 30 LCA Mk-1 fighters and eight trainer aircraft. These are in the initial operational clearance (IOC) and the more advanced final operational clearance (FOC) configurations — the first variants of LCA.
It is among the 150 Indian and foreign aircraft that participated in Tarang Shakti, which features eight air forces and 32 observer nations and concludes on Monday. The aircraft have flown more than 600 sorties, logging around 800 flying hours, officials added.
Foreign aircraft participating in the exercise included F-35s, F-16s, Rafales, A400Ms, A330 MRTT (multi-role tanker transport) KC-135s, C-130s, and other specialised platforms.