LCA does 400th test

The light combat aircraft (LCA) was test flown for the 400th time, on Saturday, the Aeronautics Development Agency said in a statement. Various versions of the LCA, the country's indigenous effort at building a fighter aircraft, however, continue to fly on an American engine.

The versions, their flights pooled together making up 400, include the technology demonstrators 1 and 2 (TD 1&2), and the prototype versions 1 and 2 (PV 1&2). On Saturday morning, the TD 1 and the PV 1 were test flown for 47 minutes, the agency said.

The flight tests were conducted for calibration of an air data system at different altitudes and speeds for TD 1, which was "ready for exploration of the flight envelope further".

The aircraft has been fitted with a new nose air data probe during a scheduled servicing, after 75 hours of flight, the agency said.

PV 2, with lighter structures, new avionics and cockpit displays, was being tested for vibration and "structural coupling". It would soon be fitted with a multi-mode radar and R73 missile and drop tanks.

The agency said it would aim to fly the PV 2, for the first time, next month.