Next version of Tejas inducted

New Delhi, May 27

The Indian Air Force on Wednesday started inducting the next version of the Tejas fighter jet. Called the Tejas Mark-1 Final Operational Clearance (FoC) version, the first aircraft was inducted at Sulur into the recently resurrected No 18 Squadron, the “Flying Bullets”.

Agile, Versatile

The FOC version is a single engine, light weight, highly agile, all-weather multi-role fighter aircraft capable of air-to-air refuelling, thus making it a versatile platform

The FOC version is a single engine, light weight, highly agile, all weather multi-role fighter aircraft capable of air-to-air refueling thus making it a truly versatile platform. Twenty such planes are to be manufactured. The FoC version has 39 upgrades over the existing initial operational clearance (IOC) version. The latter has already been inducted.

After the 20 FoC version, the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd will shift to producing the next version called the Tejas Mark 1-A, 83 of those are to be produced and will come with more improvements. The Squadron was operationalised by Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria. HAL Chairman and Managing Director R Madhavan presented the documentation of the plane to the IAF Chief. — TNS