A Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) of the Indian Air Force crashed at Jaisalmer during an operational training sortie on March 12. This is the first crash of the indigenous jet since it first flew 23 years ago on January 4, 2001.
“The pilot ejected safely. A Court of Inquiry has been constituted to find out the cause of the accident,” the IAF said in a post on social media. The incident occurred as the tri-service fire power demonstration exercise Bharat Shakti was underway not far away which was witnessed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The IAF currently operates two LCA squadrons and is set to third squadron shortly. On November 25, 2023, Mr. Modi visited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bengaluru and undertook a sortie on a twin-seater LCA.
