India's own first supersonic multi-role combat aircraft Tejas, meant to replace MiG 21s and MiG 23s, will join the Air Force on Monday for initial operational clearance.
The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), considered to be the world's smallest military aircraft with a single seat, will be among top eight aircraft in the world in terms of technological design and performance.
Tejas, which was under development for nearly 28 years and beat US sanctions, will achieve the significant milestone when Defence Minister A K Antony will give the release to service certificate to Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik.
The handing over of the service certificate will enable Indian Air Force fighter pilots to fly the LCA for final operational clearance by 2012. The LCA has been developed by the state-run Aeronautical Defence Agency (ADA) and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in Bangalore.
The project was started in 1983 with a budget of Rs. 560 crore and was named 'Tejas' in 2004. The project was delayed due to various factors, including sanctions by the US in wake of nuclear tests conducted by India in May 1998,
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