Five indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) along with a contingent of 110 Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel arrived at Al Dahfra airbase of United Arab Emirates (UAE) for participating in the multilateral Exercise Desert Flag VIII. For the first time LCA Tejas would be participating in an international flying exercise outside India.
“The IAF would be participating with five LCA Tejas and two C-17 Globemaster III aircraft,” the IAF said in a statement. Exercise Desert Flag is a multilateral air exercise in which Air Forces from UAE, France, Kuwait, Australia, UK, Bahrain, Morocco, Spain, Republic of Korea, and USA would also be participating, it stated.
The aim of the exercise, scheduled from February 27 to March 17, is to participate in diverse fighter engagements and learn from the best practices of various Air Forces, the IAF added.
The IAF currently has two squadrons of LCA, one in the Initial Operational Configuration (IOC) and another in Final Operational Configuration (FOC). Another more capable 83 LCA-MK1A are on order and the IAF is scheduled to receiving them from early next year.
In addition, several countries have expressed interest in the LCA, especially Malaysia, Argentina and Egypt.
Published - February 25, 2023 10:21 pm IST
