By Dr Anantha Krishnan M
Thrilled by the assurance given by the Chief of Air Staff Air Cheif Marshal Arup Raha, Team Tejas is on Cloud 9 as the curtains are drawn on 10th edition of Aero India 2015.
Putting an end to all speculations, Raha had categorically stated at Aero India that the Indian Air Force (IAF) has full faith in Tejas and its capabilities.
In an interview to OneIndia, P S Subramaniam, Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) Director overseeing the Tejas project said that the Chief ‘s statement has rejuvenated the team.
IAF Chief's remarks lifted the team's morale
"We read it in the newspapers and it has lifted the morale of all entire teams in ADA, HAL, DRDO and NAL. In a development programme, delays are natural and we are now ensuring that the Final Operational Clearance (FOC) is achieved as planned in December," Subramaniam said.
As reported by OneIndia earlier, the IAF will start inducting Tejas series production (SP-3) aircraft onwards into IAF.
As per the contract, HAL will have to deliver a total of 20 Tejas series production aircraft in the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) format and another 20 in the FOC mode. The IAF also needs 80 Tejas Mk-2s, which are being powered by the GE 414 engine.
This report appeared on OneIndia on 22 Feb 2015. Full report here: http://bit.ly/1DJCEmw
