BENGALURU: Just days after reports on the IAF giving a thumbs down to advanced versions of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas , Southern Command chief Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria , on Tuesday flew a 30-minutes solo mission on the indigenous fighter aircraft.Bhadauria flying the aircraft, a ministry of defence (MoD) statement read: "Gave a fresh impetus to the induction and operationalization of the indigenous fighter jet. ""No 45 Squadron, "The Flying Daggers", the first squadron to be equipped with Tejas LCA in July last year, played hosts to the Air Marshal, an accomplished fighter pilot, who is also an experimental test pilot," the statement read.Bhadauria, who has more than 4,000 hours of flying experience has over 100 sorties of test flights on the Tejas aircraft. "Ever since he took over the reins of Southern Air Command, Bhadauria has been pushing both, the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) as designer and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) as manufacturer of Tejas, for early operationalisation of this fleet," the statement added.The Flying Daggers squadron, which is expected to move to its permanent location at Sulur, near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu next year, is presently involved in training of air and ground crew, formulation of procedures and realization of the operational potential of the aircraft. "Design activities on the improved version, Tejas Mk IA, are already underway. The heads of design and production agencies appreciated the flights by Air Mshl Bhadauria, which are seen as major gesture by the IAF to appreciate the efforts by the design and production agencies, as well as an affirmation of the continued support to this indigenous initiative," the MoD statement added.

Source: Times of India November 14, 2017 13:07 UTC