Naval Light Combat Aircraft to fly by December end

( DNA) : The much-awaited maiden flight of naval prototype of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA NP-1) or Tejas is expected to take place by the end of December in Bangalore.
Scientific advisor to the defence minister and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) director general, VK Saraswat, on Friday said that the LCA NP-1—which will be the country’s first indigenous effort to build a carrier-borne Naval flight aircraft—will take to the skies by December-end.
The aircraft will be test flown by a pilot from the National Flight Test Centre, which has been entrusted with overseeing the testing activity of the LCA programme for more than a decade.
The first flight of the LCA NP-1 has been delayed for quite some time now and the maiden flight would give the programme a much-needed fillip.
The LCA NP-1 is undergoing high-speed taxi trials at HAL airport and a team steering of the LCA (Navy) project comprising members of Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, HAL, DRDO, CEMILAC, DGAQA, and CSIR Labs are carrying out a series of final integration tests before the maiden flight.
It’s stronger and betterThe LCA NP-1 has incorporated several changes compared with its Air-Force counterpart with a new, stronger and longer landing gear, arrester hook for ship-deck landing, front fuselage drooped for better over-the-nose vision to facilitate ship landing, an additional control surface to reduce ship-landing speed and consequential changes in various systems.
The NP1 aircraft would be flying with the GE-F404-IN20 engine and is specifically designed for ski-jump take-off and arrested landing, with high-landing loads compared to its Air Force counterpart.
The Navy has placed an order for six LCA aircraft and is expected to replace the depleting Sea Harrier squadron and operate along the MiG-29K’s by 2014.
Wide variety of equipmentOfficials said the aircraft would be operating with a wide variety of operational weapons and high-tech equipment like the beyond-visual-range missiles, anti-ship missiles, conventional bombs, air defence guns and drop tanks.
Equipped with state-of-the art technologies and punch, the aircraft is designed to operate from the future indigenous aircraft carriers the Navy plans to acquire, they said.
Aeronautical Development Agency, the Bangalore-based DRDO lab, is responsible for the design, development, build, ground test and flight test of both the naval and air force versions.
Saraswat said that price negotiations for a joint venture with French firm Snecma, for co-development and co-production of Kaveri aero engine for LCA Tejas MK-II, is expected to be completed in a couple of months.
“Price negotiations with Snecma are in progress. They are not yet completed. It may take a couple of months,” he said.
Officials said the IAF has cleared the Kaveri engine co-development proposal with Snecma.
The draft engine technical specification has been examined and cleared by the IAF, which has further suggested that the engine design should have minimal impact on the LCA Tejas airframe for future retrofitment.