HAL Ramps Up LCA Production and Looks to the Mk2 | Aviation International News

HAL Ramps Up LCA Production and Looks to the Mk2

India's troubled Tejas Light Combat Aircraft program is advancing with an interim improved Mk1A, followed by a much more capable Mk2.

HAL displayed the air force version of the MWF/LCA Mk2 in model form at the recent Aero India show. (Photo: Neelam Mathews)

By Neelam Mathews

March 11, 2019

Government-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) will deliver 16 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) in the final operational clearance (FOC) configuration to the Indian Air Force (IAF) by the end of this year, said HAL chairman R. Madhavan. He added that 16 LCAs have been delivered in the Initial Operation Clearance (IOC) configuration already. An additional eight are being produced as trainers.

The LCA received its FOC last month during the Aero India show in Bangalore, for induction into the Indian Air Force as a fully weaponized fighter. Following the major Vayu Shakti Air Force exercise in February, the Chief of the IAF, Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa, reported, “It is a fighter jet and behaved like a fighter. It did well both in air-to-air combat, as well as air-to-ground combat.”

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