HAL-Indian Navy discussing possibility of turning LCA Navy Mk1 into Naval LIFT

Source : IgMp Bureau

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Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is carrying out final fittings on the Naval Tejas NP-5 trainer aircraft, which will be used to collect data for the development of the Twin-Engine Deck-Based Fighter (TEDBF).

The Indian Air Force is already on board the Tejas Lead-In Fighter Trainer (LIFT) program and Hindustan Aeronautics has now started talks with the Indian Navy to link the Tejas LIFT program with the Naval Tejas Mark 1 program, to maintain commonality with avionics and also cater to redundancy and obsoletion of the technology.

If HAL can get the Navy on board the LIFT program then it will incorporate not only new cockpit layout and avionics but will also offer more realistic performance for trainee pilots as it will be able to mimic platforms like TEDBF or Mig-29k to give a better understanding of the characteristics of the naval fighter aircraft and operations from Aircraft Carrier deck.

The work on the Tejas LIFT project will begin after the completion of the integration and testing of the new upgraded technologies, that are to be incorporated as part of the Tejas Mark 1A program of the Indian Air Force.