Having missed many deadlines for its maiden flight, the naval prototype of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-NP1) is finally expected to fly this week.
Having missed many deadlines for its maiden flight, the naval prototype of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-NP1) is finally expected to fly this week. The LCA-NP1, the country’s first indigenous effort to build a carrier borne naval fighter aircraft, was scheduled to be flight-tested last year. However, technical problems led to postponements a couple of times.
“We are looking at scheduling the flight anytime now. Final trials are currently on,” said DRDO sources. They added that the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), the nodal agency for the design and development of the LCA programme, along with other project members such as Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Centre for Military Airworthiness & Certification (CEMILAC), Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance (DGAQA) and the Navy, is carrying out final integration tests before the first flight, expected this week.
“We have successfully completed the first flight trials of the LCA Limited Series Production-7 aircraft for the IAF and now are geared up to test the naval variant,” sources added. The first flight of the LCA Navy comes at the backdrop of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approving the limited series production of the LCA Navy.
This clearance has come as big boost for the programme, after being hit by delays as in the case of its IAF version.
Compared with the IAF version, the LCA (Navy) has a few variations such as a stronger and longer landing gear, arrester hook for ship-deck landing, front fuselage drooped for better over-the-nose vision to facilitate ship landing, an additional control surface to reduce ship landing speed and consequential changes in various systems.
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