IAF Southern Command chief takes Tejas for a spin

Bengaluru: In a major leg up for made-in-India fighter jet “Tejas”, Air Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria, Air Officer Commanding in Chief (AOC-in-C), Southern Command, demonstrated its prowess during a solo flight in Bengaluru on Tuesday, a harbinger of operationalization of the fleet.

In the IAF hierarchy, Air Marshal Bhadauria stands second after Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa and former Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha to fly this combat aircraft. Air Marshal Bhadauria has been pushing the Aeronautical Development Agency and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd for early operationalization of the fleet from the time he took over the reins of the Southern Air Command of IAF in March 2017. The IAF has placed an order for 123 ‘Tejas’ combat jets with the first squadron scheduled to move to its location at Sulur near Coimbatore shortly.

Mr. T. Suvarna Raju, CMD-HAL thanked the AOC-in-C for reposing faith in this advanced indigenous combat aircraft. HAL is set to ramp up production of these fighter aircraft from eight to 16 a year with the establishment of an additional production line in Bengaluru. The design activities for improved version, Tejas MkIA, are already underway.

No 45 Squadron, “The Flying Daggers”, which was the first squadron to be equipped with Tejas LCA in July last year, played host to the Air Marshal who has been associated with ‘Tejas’ programme for the last 15 years.