In a major milestone, the Naval variant of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) undertook maiden landing onboard the country’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) INS Vikrant on February 6. This is also the maiden landing of a fixed wing aircraft on the carrier as part of its operationalisation. This was followed by a landing and take-off by a twin-engine MiG-29K fighter jet.
“A historical milestone achieved towards Aatma Nirbhar Bharat by the Navy as Naval pilots carry out landing of LCA [Navy] onboard INS Vikrant,” Navy spokesperson Cdr. Vivek Madhwal said. “It demonstrates India’s capability to design, develop, construct and operate IAC with indigenous fighter aircraft.”
Naval variant of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft undertakes maiden landing onboard the country’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant on February 6. | Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy: Defence PRO
Cdr. Madhwal further added: “Indian Navy takes a significant step towards operationalising the IAC by successful landing of MiG-29K on INS Vikrant by naval pilots...”
Also read | The Light Combat Aircraft programme
Post commissioning, efforts are currently under way to operationalise the aviation complex of the carrier after which it would be ready for operational deployment.
In January 2020, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had demonstrated a successful arrested landing of Naval Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) on INS Vikramaditya and subsequently, 18 take-offs and landings were conducted in five days. However, the Navy has projected a requirement for a twin-engine aircraft to operate from the carrier and DRDO has now embarked on developing a Twin Engine Deck-Based Fighter (TEDBF) being on the experience of the Naval LCA.
INS Vikrant, displacing a weight of 42,800 tonnes, was commissioned into the Navy last September. The aviation trials are to be carried out post commissioning.
The ship powered by four General Electric engines uses an aircraft-operation mode known as Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) for which it is equipped with a ski-jump for launching aircraft, and a set of three ‘arrester wires’ for their recovery onboard.
Initially, the carrier would be operating the existing MiG-29Ks in service, while a decision on procurement of an advanced fighter, between the Boeing F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet and the Dassault Aviation Rafale, is expected in the next few months.
In the long term, the TEDBF is being developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) of the DRDO and is expected to be the mainstay. The project under development is expected to get approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) by mid-2023 and could be inducted into the Navy by 2031-32, according to ADA officials as reported by The Hindu earlier.
The TEDBF is envisaged as a twin engine medium weight fighter with an all up weight of 26 tonnes and wing folding.
In 2017, the Navy had floated Request For Information (RFI) to procure 57 twin engine carrier fighter which is now set to be downsized to around 26 including few twin seater trainer variants, with the TEDBF in the pipeline.
The Navy had contracted 45 MiG-29K aircraft from Russia for INS Vikramaditya few of which have been lost in crashes and given the availability rates, there won’t be enough aircraft to operate from both the carriers.
The Naval LCA-Mk1 made its maiden flight in April 2012 from the Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) in Goa and two prototypes have been flying as part of the development. It is designed with stronger landing gear to absorb forces exerted by the ski jump ramp during take-off, to be airborne within 200m and land within 100m as against 1000m required for normal runways.
