In the midst of a cool south-western monsoon breeze, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) airport at Bengaluru wore a festive look for what is without doubt an aeronautically-historic occasion. On behalf of the Indian Air Force (IAF), its Deputy Chief, Air Marshal Jasbir Walia, is all set to receive the first two series production Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) from HAL. These would equip IAF’s 45 ‘Flying Daggers’ Squadron, which, it may be recalled, shot down a Pakistani Atlantique surveillance aircraft that intruded into Indian airspace in 1999.
Celebrations are indeed called for. To begin with, it is the time to rejoice for the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) that indigenously designed and developed Tejas from the drawing board. As the production agency, HAL faced innumerable set-backs, decade-long Western sanctions and daunting technological challenges.
The National Flight Test Centre (NFTC), which undertook 3,000 accident-free test sorties since the Tejas first flew in 2001, too deserves accolades. Credit must also go to the hundreds of Tier II and Tier III small and medium enterprises, mostly from the private aeronautics sector, which played a key role.