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LCA Naval prototype all set to roll out

NEW DELHI: The Naval Prototype of the Light Combat Aircraft (NP1), being developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), Bangalore, is all set to roll out from the hangar on July 6 and take its first flight by year-end.

The country's first indigenous LCA (Navy) will come out from HAL Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC), marking a milestone for the programme sanctioned by the government in 2003.

The Chief of The Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma will be the Chief Guest at the Roll-Out occasion when the aircraft comes out of the hangar for the first time.

The aircraft will then become ready for the systems integration test phase, when ground runs, taxi trials and flight will be conducted, a Defence Ministry release said.

The NP2 (fighter) is likely to fly by the end of 2011. The aircraft, with state-of-the-art technologies, is designed to use the future indigenous aircraft carriers the Navy plans to acquire.

The Shore Based Test Facility at Goa will be used to simulate carrier take-off and arrested landing. The LCA (Navy) NP1 will be flying with the GE-F-404-IN20 engine and is designed for ski jump take off and arrested landing.

ADA is planning to equip the LCA ‘Tejas' and the Naval version with a more powerful engine and two companies, American General Electric and European Consortium Eurojet are offering the GE414 and EJ200 respectively.

The NP1 will be operating with a wide variety of operational weapons and equipment like the Beyond Visual Range missile, anti-ship missiles, conventional bombs, air defence guns and drop tanks. The ADA is responsible for the design, development, build, ground test and flight test of both the Naval and Air Force versions of the LCA. HAL is the principal partner of ADA.

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