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KEY MILESTONE

LCA Navy lands on aircraft carrier for the 1st time in significant demonstration of indigenous capability

After successful deck landing, basic technology blocks in place for development of a twin-engined carrier-borne fighter

January 11, 2020 By Vishal Thapar Photo(s): By DRDO
The LCA Navy flown by the naval test pilot Commodore Jaideep Maolankar landing on the deck of the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya

India on January 11 announced the first arrested landing of the naval version of its indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA Navy) on the deck of the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

This is a significant milestone in the development of indigenous capability for carrier-borne fighters, and puts the basic technology blocks in place for commencing the development of a twin-engine deck-based fighter which meets the requirements of the Indian Navy.

The single-engine LCA Navy is a technology demonstrator of a Short-Take Off Barrier Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) capability for launch and recovery of a fighter aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier

The single-engine LCA Navy is a technology demonstrator of a Short-Take Off Barrier Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) capability for launch and recovery of a fighter aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier.

The successful demonstration of capability gives impetus to India's agenda to have indigenously designed, developed and manufactured aircraft carriers and deck-borne fighters to project India's military might far away from its shores.

"After completing extensive trials on the Shore Based Test Facility (at Goa), Naval version of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) did a successful arrested landing onboard INS Vikramaditya at 1002 hrs today," the Ministry of Defence announced in a statement.

A hook lowered from the undercarriage of the LCA Navy to catch the arrester wire across the deck of the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya during its maiden deck landing on January 11

Naval test pilot Commodore Jaideep Maolankar conducted the maiden landing. Captain Dahiya was the Landing Safety Officer (LSO) and Commander Vivek Pandey the Test Director on ship while Group Captain Kabadwal and Commander Ankur Jain monitored the aircraft through telemetry from the Shore-Based Test Facility (SBTF) at Goa.

The successful demonstration of capability gives impetus to India's agenda to have indigenously designed, developed and manufactured aircraft carriers and deck-borne fighters to project India's military might far away from its shores

LCA Navy has been developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hailed the maiden deck landing of the LCA Navy as "a great event in the history of Indian fighter aircraft development programme".

Secretary Defence R&D & Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy congratulated DRDO, Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), Indian Navy, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance (DGAQA) teams for the achievement.