Tejas Mk1A Aircraft takes first flight

The first Aircraft LA5033 of the Tejas Mk1A Aircraft series took to the skies from HAL facility in Bengaluru on Thursday.

“It was a successful sortie with a flying time of 18 minutes. HAL achieved this significant production milestone with concurrent design and development amid major supply chain challenges in the global geo-political environment subsequent to the contract signature in February 2021,” said C. B. Ananthakrishnan, CMD, HAL, according to a release.

The aircraft was piloted by Chief Test Pilot, Group Captain K.K. Venugopal (Retd). The Tejas Mk1A will have advanced electronic RADAR, warfare, communication systems, additional combat capability and improved maintenance features.