A drop tank fell off from a Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) near Coimbatore on Tuesday morning and there was no damage on the ground, the Indian Air Force (IAF) said. “Today morning, around 0840h, one fuel drop tank fell off from a Tejas aircraft on a routine sortie from the Sulur Air Base near Coimbatore,” an IAF spokesperson said, adding that the aircraft landed back safely. Residents of Irugur village said a minor explosion was heard as the fuel tank fell on agricultural land. A defence source said the Tejas was a Serial Production (SP)-4 version and was on a routine sortie. The IAF’s first Tejas squadron, Squadron 45 ‘Flying Daggers,’ was constituted in July 2016 with two jets in Initial Operational Configuration.

Source: The Hindu July 02, 2019 06:56 UTC