In Pictures: First Arrested Landing Of Naval Variant Of LCA Tejas On Indian Navy’s INS Vikramaditya

After completing extensive trials on the Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF), Naval version of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) did a successful arrested landing on board INS Vikramaditya on Saturday (11 January), a Ministry of Defence statement said.

Commodore Jaideep Maolankar conducted the maiden landing of the aircraft, the statement added.

According to senior journalist Vishnu Som, the aircraft snagged the third wire on the deck of the ship. The target was the second wire.

Here are some pictures of the Naval Variant of Light Combat Aircraft landing on INS Vikramaditya.

There was 23 knots of wind at the time of approach today. Touchdown was at a comfortable 128 knots relative to the speed of the carrier.

The Naval variant of the LCA has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The aircraft tested today had max fuel on board and no dummy weapons.

In September last year, the aircraft had successfully carried out a maiden "arrested landing” at a shore-based test facility in Goa.

According to Som, the first take off of the naval variant of the LCA will take place tomorrow (12 January) off the INS Vikramaditya’s ski jump.