Update: Indian Navy's Light Combat Aircraft prototype makes first carrier landing

A prototype of India’s indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (Navy) (LCA (N)) Mk 1 successfully carried out its first ‘arrested landing’ on 11 January on the deck of INS Vikramaditya (ex- Admiral Gorshkov ), the Indian Navy’s (IN’s) sole aircraft carrier, during a deployment in the Arabian Sea.

A prototype of India’s indigenously developed LCA (N) Mk 1 aircraft carried out its first ‘arrested landing’ on 11 January on the deck of IN carrier INS Vikramaditya . (Indian Navy)

IN sources told Jane’s on 13 January that the LCA (N) Mk 1 prototype, which was developed by the state-owned Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) – is expected to conduct additional landings on the carrier to “fine-tune” the aircraft’s avionics, assorted on-board systems, and flight computer software.

The Indian government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) said that the carrier landing followed extensive trials at the IN’s shore-based test facility (SBTF) at INS Hansa in Goa on India's southwestern coast.

The single-engine LCA (N) Mk 1, which features a reinforced undercarriage, had successfully conducted its first ‘arrested landing’ at the SBTF in September 2019, which was followed by around 30 similar touchdowns thereafter.

A prototype of India’s indigenously developed LCA (N) Mk 1 aircraft (seen here during take-off) carried out its first ‘arrested landing’ on 11 January on the deck of IN carrier INS Vikramaditya . Just like the IAF's Tejas LCA Mk 1, the naval variant is powered by the US General Electric F404-GE-IN20 engine. (Indian Navy)