Bengaluru: With an eye to export Tejas fighters to friendly nations, two platforms from the Tejas test line will be available for customer evaluation flights during the upcoming Aero India 2017.
Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) Chief Cmde C D Balaji (Retd) told media on Saturday that PV5 and PV6 (both trainers) will be exclusively available for customer evaluation flights.
In addition to Tejas Test pilots from ADA-HAL, No 45 Squadron pilots of IAF, Tejas has been so far flown by Air Force chief of Turkmenistan. Senior IAF officials too have flown in the aircraft.
He said the Tejas PV-1 fitted with Kaveri engine will be flying by Aero India 2019. “We are reviving PV-1 to accommodate the Kaveri engine with some changes to the rear fuselage,” he said.
To a specific query on LCA Navy’s status, post comments being made by Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba in last December, Balaji said: “The CNS was citing overweight issues of LCA-Navy MK1. We always knew the plane was overweight, but this was only a technology demonstrator. But, Navy is keen on Mk2 variant.”
He said the arrested recovery landing tests of NLCA will be undertaken later this year at the Shore Based Test Facility in Goa.
