Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar handed over the first series-production version of the Light Combat Aircraft to the Indian Air Force here on Saturday.
Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, received its technical documents from the Minister in the presence of R.K.Tyagi, Chairman of its manufacturer, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
At Bharat Electronics Ltd, the Minister laid the foundation stone for a training academy. He rolled out the 750th metro car made by BEML Ltd for Delhi Metro, the defence companies said.
The IAF looks set to get the final battle-ready version of the Light Combat Aircraft only around December this year, according to top officials involved in its development.
That means a further six-month delay in the 25-year-old aircraft project, which was expected to be achieved in June this year.
The goalpost became clear when the Defence Minister visited LCA-related design and production facilities in the city on Saturday and reviewed its status.
Director-General (Aero R&D) K.Tamilmani, who heads all aeronautical development projects at the Defence Research & Development Organisation, told The Hindu that the developer, Aeronautical Development Agency, continues to wait for two imports from U.K. vendor Cobham: namely the quartz nose cone to test the radar performance of the plane; and the refuelling probe.
“If we get them by March this year as promised, then we can complete the remaining tests by September,” Dr. Tamilmani said. They are required for the last lap of the project, called FOC (final operational clearance), and have been delayed beyond the earlier time limit of December 2014.
