This story is from February 12, 2017

For first time, ‘buyers’ will fly in Tejas

In a first, Aero India 2017 will see ‘prospective customers’ flying in the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), which until now has only been flown by test pilots.
For first time, ‘buyers’ will fly in Tejas
Flying display of Tejas, the Light Combat Aircraft in Bengaluru.
BENGALURU: In a first, Aero India 2017 will see ‘prospective customers’ flying in the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), which until now has only been flown by test pilots.
While this will be the first time Team Tejas is providing prospective customers the opportunity to fly in the aircraft. Turkmenistan’s air force chief is the only foreign person to have flown in it. Tejas has been flown by test pilots and IAF’s Squadron 45 pilots, and other senior officers from India.
“We will have both the trainers (PV5 and PV6) for customers to fly in and see first-hand the capabilities of the aircraft,” said Cmde CD Balaji (retd), chief of Aeronautical Development Agency.

Besides, another limited series production variant of the aircraft will be on static display allowing people to check out its cockpit. “We generally had mock-up planes but this time the real cockpit will be available for people to see,” he said. Tejas would also be flying as TOI had reported earlier.
Further, the DRDO will showcase a host of its capabilities — most importantly those in the combat aircraft, UAVs, missiles, avionics and electronic warfare systems. Among the attractions from DRDO will be the Astra missile, both variants of Rustom UAVs, and the Akash system.
Reiterating that the agency was now focused on Make in India, DRDO chairman S Christopher said that nearly 26 projects have been realized in the past 18 months — several have been in development for years.

“When I joined the total worth of our products and systems was Rs 1.6 lakh crore and today it is Rs 2.7 lakh crore. We have been working relentlessly in realizing some of the projects,” said Christopher.
Speaking about the Kaveri engine programme, he said that it will be integrated into an aircraft by 2019.
Balaji said that the LCA Prototype Vehicle-1 (PV-1) will be revived to accommodate the Kaveri engine for tests.
Aero India seminar today
The 11th Aero India International Seminar, a prelude to the Aero India, will begin on Sunday with theme ‘Aerospace: Technology Collaboration and Self Reliance’.
Organized by the Defence Research and Development Organisation in association with the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI), the seminar will cover a wide spectrum of topics in aerospace and defence sectors.
Technologies and applications related to aircraft systems, unmanned platforms, avionics, space and missile systems et al, and technology collaboration will be discussed in depth by 73 speakers including 20 from foreign aerospace and defence sector.
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