Bipin Shah   Self Employed
India?s fifth limited-series production (LSP-5) Tejas Light Combat Aircraft is ready for its first flight.

Indian sources confirm to AVIATION WEEK that a flight readiness review meeting was held recently and the LSP-5 will fly ?soon,? weather permitting. LSP-4 had its first flight in June. 

?Two more high-speed taxi trials are remaining and after that we will be ready for the first flight,? says a senior official associated with the program. ?It will have internal cockpit lighting for enabling night flying, with all corrections being done. We are also testing a new communication set, similar to that on the Dhruv chopper. This would again ensure commonality of inventory in the country.?

LSP-5 will be the first to test the Tejas? auto-pilot mode. ?The autopilot is indigenously developed by the national control law team of National Aerospace Laboratories,? the official says. ?With LSP-5, we are demonstrating all the final configuration of Tejas Mk-1, which will also be a final cockpit version.?

The LSP-5 will be the 11th test vehicle to join the Tejas flight line. 

The Aeronautical Development Agency is working toward a Dec. 27 deadline for the crucial release-to-service certification.

For this, the Center for Military Airworthiness and Certification is working with the agency, the Defence Research & Development Organization, the National Aerospace Laboratories and aircraft provider Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. ?Almost 70 percent of equipment has been type approved, while 70 percent of systems also have been type certified,? the official says.

If the delivery schedules are met, then the Indian Air Force will have LSP-7 and LSP-8 for user evaluation trials by March 2011. LSP-6 will be a test vehicle for high angle of attack. The Tejas squadron is expected to be in Bengaluru by mid-2011 and the first two series production aircraft (SP-1, SP-2) also should be ready by then.
Oct 30th 2010 06:33