The successful maiden flight of the indigenously designed and built Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A on 17 October, Friday from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)'s Nashik facility in Maharashtra is to be welcomed.

This flight marks an important punctuation in India’s long and arduous journey to induct a proven, home-made fighter aircraft in the quest for ‘ atmanirbharta ’ as related to air power. But the road ahead is long, winding, and uphill.

The genesis of the LCA goes back to 1983 when the government, then headed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, sanctioned the LCA program under the aegis of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The goal was to develop a lightweight, 4th-generation fighter to replace the Soviet-origin MiG-21s with HAL as the lead integrat

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