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- Rajnath Singh assumes charge as Defence Minister for the second consecutive term
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Maiden flight of LCA naval version NP-1
The maiden flight of the naval variant of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-NP-1) was carried out successfully on April 27 at HAL Airport, Bangalore. The flight which lasted for about 20 minutes within the designated flight envelope had carried out the planned tests successfully. The test flight was carried out with landing gear extended as a routine practice during the maiden flight. With this successful flight test, the LCA development programme has crossed another major milestone.
The LCA (NP-1) was piloted by Come T.A. Maolankar, Chief Test Pilot and co-piloted by Wing Cdr M. Prabhu, Flight Test Engineer of NFTC. The event was witnessed by a host of top dignitaries including Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Advisor & DG(DRDO), Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne and Deputy Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Satish Soni.
The development plan of the naval version envisages building of two prototypes, a two-seat trainer (NP-1) and a single-seat fighter (NP-2), as technology demonstrators to carry out carrier suitability certification and weapons integration. HAL is the major partner to ADA, for the design and development of the LCA. In the naval variant, the responsibilities of HAL include design of general systems viz. fuel system, environmental control system, hydraulics, electrical, communication system, landing gear, arrestor hook, leading edge vortex control surface (LEVCON) modification.
The additional features that the naval version would have when compared to the other version of LCA are the LEVCON to reduce the forward speed of the aircraft during carrier landing, telescopic landing gear with high sink rate, arrester hook for deck recovery and fuel dump system for emergency deck recovery. The aircraft is specifically designed for take off from a 14 degree ramp on the aircraft carrier deck and use the arrester hook system to facilitate landing within the deck length of 90 metres.
The Naval prototype (NP-1) had its roll out earlier in the presence of the Defence Minister and the Chief of the Naval Staff in July 2010.
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