The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas fleet is expected to resume flying by Wednesday after being grounded for some time following a crash linked to issues in the braking system, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Chairman and Managing Director Dr DK Sunil said in New Delhi on Thursday.
Sunil said the required clearance process is underway and the fleet could soon return to operations once certain checks are completed. “The good news is that for the Tejas fleet, the LMC is done, there is a local modification committee civil action there, which looks at this, so we expect this clearance by Wednesday, the fleet will start flying,” Sunil said.
He added that specific one-time checks have been issued for the aircraft before they return to service.”Some one-time checks have been issued, which they will have to carry out and they can start flying,” he said. Providing details about the number of aircraft in the fleet, Sunil said the Indian Air Force operates 36 Tejas aircraft.
“There are 36… Out of 36, 2 have gone… so 34 are remaining,” he said, referring to two aircraft that are no longer part of the operational fleet.He further clarified that the fleet includes both fighter and trainer variants. “32 are fighters and 4 were trainers,” Sunil said.
The Tejas fleet had been temporarily grounded following a crash earlier, after which checks related to the braking system and other safety aspects were undertaken before allowing the aircraft to resume operations. Tejas is a single-engine, multi-role light combat aircraft built to operate in high-threat environments, with capabilities that include air defence, maritime reconnaissance and strike missions.