A day before Aero India inauguration, IAF chief flies LCA Tejas trainer version with Army chief in co-pilot seat

LCA Tejas is a homegrown fighter aircraft manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. IAF has already inducted around 40 of these aircraft & plans to add 83 LCA Mark 1As in its arsenal.

Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh and Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Upendra Dwivedi land after taking a sortie aboard a Tejas aircraft ahead of the #AeroIndia2025 at the Yelahanka Air Force Station, Karnataka | Photo: X, @ANI

Bengaluru: Putting their weight behind indigenously-developed technology, the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh Sunday flew the trainer version of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Upendra Dwivedi seated in the co-pilot seat.

The chiefs flew the sortie a day ahead of the formal inauguration of the 15th edition of the Aero India air show, to be held between 10 and 14 February in Bengaluru.

The CAS and COAS flew the sortie for 45 minutes. The trainer version is designed to be dual cockpit.

The CAS, on multiple occasions in the past, has been critical of the sluggish pace of HAL’s production capabilities, which directly affects the Indian Air Force’s (AIF) dwindling fighter fleet.

Incidentally, the two chiefs were course mates in the National Defence Academy (NDA).

The aircraft took off from the air force station Yelahanka in Bengaluru, where Aero India is ongoing.

The LCA Tejas is a homegrown fighter aircraft that is manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The IAF has already inducted approximately 40 of these aircraft and is planning to add 83 LCA Mark 1As in its arsenal. The supply of these aircraft has however been delayed because of supply chain issues faced by US engine maker GE.

Aero India, which will be a five-day event, will see several foreign and India defence manufacturing companies participating in the event.

What the sortie also stands to symbolise is the jointmanship between the forces—a critical requirement for theatrisation.

One of the major highlights of the show is the participation of Su-57 and F35 fighter jets from Russia and US, respectively.

The Secretary Defence Production Sanjeev Kumar Sunday announced that the show will have a total of 900 exhibitors. The number of foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) has gone up to 54 from last year’s 28. Moreover, domestic OEMs taking part have gone up to 52 from 44 last year.