SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
C B Ananthakrishnan, CMD of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd In a report on 100knots.com, said that Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) gave sanctions for the development of the LCA-Mk2 last September and, HAL will be able to deliver the prototype in 2025-26 and it will have its first flight in 2026-27.
Ananthakrishnan claimed that 2500 crores already have been spent on the initial design work of the LCA-Mk2 and the program will get more than 6500 crores in the next few months to develop four prototypes that are earmarked to be used for developmental flight trials of the LCA-Mk2.
While it is not clear if the Rollout of the Prototype that was to happen later this year has been postponed and the first flight that was to happen in late 2024 or early 2025 will only happen in 2027.
Retired IAF captain Harsh Vardhan Thakur who is an experimental test pilot with HAL, commented on this issue and said that ” Contract is placed on manufacturer only after CCS approval. Every aircraft takes >36 months to manufacture. Delays from the manufacturer are charged with LD, which would show up in the annual report. Don’t believe anything else. “
CCS clearance that came in September 2022 and 36 months could mean that the LCA-Mk2 rollout is only possible in September 2025 and the first flight that usually takes place one year from the rollout might happen to be at the end of 2026
idrw.org at Aero India 2023 will try to get confirmation of the rollout and the first flight timeline indeed has been moved as reported in the latest media reports.
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