LCA Tejas undergoes successful high-altitude trials at Leh

New Delhi: India's indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) crossed a major milestone when prototype vehicle PV-3 landed at Leh air base in the high-altitude Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir for high altitude testing of its systems and engines.

"Tejas (LCA) programme reached a major milestone when the prototype vehicle PV-3 landed at Leh on December 13 this year at 1326 hours," Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials said here on Tuesday.

Leh airfield, situated at an altitude of 10,600 feet, is one of the highest airfields in the world and experiences temperature variations ranging from plus 5 degrees Celsius to minus 20 degrees Celsius.

The objective of the flight trials conducted at Leh was to expose on-board systems to extreme low temperatures and also to assess aircraft performance in rarefied atmospheric conditions, DRDO officials said.

They also said that two Tejas prototypes, PV-3 and LSP-2, were involved in the environmental test. The LSP-2 prototype is powered by the latest F404-GE- IN20 engine with Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC). The engine is in the Standard of Preparation (SOP) mode and will be cleared for induction in IAF service soon.

Reports from the trial location suggest that the current phase of flight trial was progressing with aircraft and systems performing well. Officials said the aircraft were soaked overnight in cold weather, with temperature around minus 20 degrees Celsius and successfully powered up next day for operation.

Based on the F404-GE-402, the F404-GE-IN20 is the highest-rated F404 model and includes a higher-flow fan, increased thrust, a Full Authority Digital Electronic Control (FADEC) system, single-crystal turbine blades and a variety of single-engine features.

The F404-GE-IN20 succeeds F404-F2J3 development engines used for nearly 900 flights, cumulatively covering nine engines.