Naval LCA Tested With Indian-made Landing Gear

The second prototype of the naval version of India’s Light Combat Aircraft has been tested with a complex landing gear designed by the Aircraft Research and Design Centre, a wing of the DRDO.

Called the LCA-NP2 the second prototype of the Navy version of the Light Combat Aircraft,  flew for the first time on Saturday. It took off from the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd runway at 12.27 p.m. and flew for about 35 minutes, said HAL in a release.

Officials of HAL, the Aeronautical Development Agency, safety certifying agency CEMILAC and other DRDO officials watched the flight.

HAL Chairman T. Suvarna Raju said a main contribution in it was the new and complex landing gear designed for NP-2. The first prototype of the naval LCA is undergoing tests on a take off and landing strip mimicking an aircraft carrier ski jump.

Navy test pilot Captain Shivnath Dahiya of the National Flight Test Centre flew the NP-2. The chase aircraft cover was provided by a limited series production aircraft (LSP2) piloted by Gp. Capt. Suneet Krishna (retd).