<p>The indigenously designed and developed Light Combat Aircraft Tejas on Wednesday received the much-awaited Final Operational Clearance (FOC) from military aviation regulator, the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (Cemilac).</p>.<p class="bodytext">With this, the aircraft can now be inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) as a weaponised fighter jet in its operational fleet. Cemilac Chief Executive P Jayapal formally handed over the ‘release-to-service’ documents to the Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal B S Dhanoa at the Aero India 2019 here.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Dhanoa told mediapersons that this is a major milestone for LCA. “The aircraft could fly in many sorties and demonstrate the precision with which it can deliver weapons,” he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The IAF Chief noted that Tejas had accurately performed air-to-ground attacks and air-to-air refuelling at IAF’s Vayu Shakti air display on February 16 at Pokhran in Rajasthan.</p>.<p class="bodytext">State-owned aviation major, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has already responded to the Request for Proposal (RFP) floated by the Air Force for 83 LCA Mk-1 with weaponisation, informed HAL Chairman and Managing Director, R Madhavan.</p>.<p class="bodytext">DRDO Chairman G Satheesh Reddy described the grant of FOC to Tejas as a landmark moment for the aeronautic scientists, the industry and businesses.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Tejas, which has already completed 1,500 sorties, is designed and developed by DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Agency and built by HAL. A supersonic fourth generation fighter, a Tejas variant is also to be inducted into the Indian Navy.</p>
<p>The indigenously designed and developed Light Combat Aircraft Tejas on Wednesday received the much-awaited Final Operational Clearance (FOC) from military aviation regulator, the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (Cemilac).</p>.<p class="bodytext">With this, the aircraft can now be inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) as a weaponised fighter jet in its operational fleet. Cemilac Chief Executive P Jayapal formally handed over the ‘release-to-service’ documents to the Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal B S Dhanoa at the Aero India 2019 here.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Dhanoa told mediapersons that this is a major milestone for LCA. “The aircraft could fly in many sorties and demonstrate the precision with which it can deliver weapons,” he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The IAF Chief noted that Tejas had accurately performed air-to-ground attacks and air-to-air refuelling at IAF’s Vayu Shakti air display on February 16 at Pokhran in Rajasthan.</p>.<p class="bodytext">State-owned aviation major, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has already responded to the Request for Proposal (RFP) floated by the Air Force for 83 LCA Mk-1 with weaponisation, informed HAL Chairman and Managing Director, R Madhavan.</p>.<p class="bodytext">DRDO Chairman G Satheesh Reddy described the grant of FOC to Tejas as a landmark moment for the aeronautic scientists, the industry and businesses.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Tejas, which has already completed 1,500 sorties, is designed and developed by DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Agency and built by HAL. A supersonic fourth generation fighter, a Tejas variant is also to be inducted into the Indian Navy.</p>