- Shri Rajnath Singh has scripted history by becoming the first Raksha Mantri to fly the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) ‘Tejas’.
- Shri Rajnath Singh undertook 30-minute sortie in the indigenously-built multi-role fighter aircraft with Air Vice Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari, at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Airport in Bengaluru on September 19, 2019.
About Tejas
- Tejas is the first advance Fly-by-wire (FBW) fighter aircraft designed, developed and manufactured in India. Conceived as a MiG-21 replacement, the aircraft has been designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and produced by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
- Tejas is a 4th Plus generation aircraft with a glass cockpit and is equipped with state of the art Satellite aided Inertial Navigation System. It has a digital computer based attack system and an autopilot. It can fire Air to Air Missiles, Bombs as well as Precision Guided Munitions.
- The mid-air refuelling of ‘wet contact’ trial for LCA Tejas MK-1 was successfully carried out on September 10, 2018 from an Indian Air Force base. The trial was a part of the Air-to-Air refuelling flight tests conducted by IAF.
- The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) “Tejas” was inducted into No. 45 Squadron of Indian Air Force (IAF) on 01 Jul 2016. No. 45 Squadron, also called the “Flying Daggers”, was last equipped with MiG 21 Bis Aircraft and operated from Nalia. It’s motto is “Ajeet Nabha”.
