LCA Tejas to get futuristic weapons, sensors; MoU inked

New Delhi, Feb 21: The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Air Force (IAF) for integration of futuristic weapons and sensors in the Tejas, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

In a statement on Wednesday, the Defence Ministry said that there is a continuous need of upgrading the weapons and sensors suite of the aircraft in the present war scenario and towards this, ADA has initiated the know-how transfer for the integration of weapons and sensors to SDI.

"This will facilitate the IAF to independently carry out sensors, weapon integration and flight testing to enhance the operational capabililty of Tejas-LCA fighter," the ministry said.

According to the statement, the ADA has successfully developed and type certified Tejas-LCA with a credit of more than 10,000 sorties of incident free flying.

The IAF has already formed two squadrons of the fighter aircraft and twin-seater aircraft are also being inducted.

The ADA under the Department of Defence Research and Development is mandated to design and develop Tejas-LCA and its variants.

The MoU was signed by Prabhulla Chandran V.K., Technology Director (Avionics and Weapon Systems) of ADA and Air Vice Marshal K.N. Santosh VSM, Commandant, Software Development Institute (SDI) of IAF.