Army chief Bipin Rawat flies in home-grown Tejas, calls it 'wonderful' aircraft
Bengaluru, Feb 21: Army chief General Bipin Rawat Thursday took to the skies in the home-grown Light Combat Aircraft Tejas at the Aero India show here and described the French fighter jet as a "wonderful aircraft" that would add to the air power.
Sitting behind the pilot in a two-seater trainer variant of the Tejas, General Rawat took a sortie, a day after the HAL-made fighter jet received the Final Operational Clearance (FOC) at the air show, signalling that it was combat ready.
"Flight in LCA Tejas was an experience of a lifetime," General Rawat said, after a 40-minute sortie in the skies above the Yelahanka Air Force Station, north of Bengaluru.
Describing the LCA ride as "a wonderful experience," the Army chief said "From what I could witness, avionics are very good.Its targeting is very good.
We were doing normal manoeuvres. We did not do the loop," he said.
"If it gets added to the inventory, it will add to air power," said General Rawat, who is the first Army chief to fly in the agile, the smallest and lightest multi-role supersonic Tejas.
Tejas would replace the aging Jaguar and Mig-21 fleet.
After taking the sortie, General Rawat also flew in the HAL-made Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) at the air show.
The helicopter was piloted by Wg Cdr S John, HALs Test Pilot.
Terming the sortie in the LCH as an "experience of lifetime", the Army Chief said, it is suitable for the Army to take on adversaries in any terrain and different altitudes.
LCH is a 5.5-ton class, combat helicopter designed and developed by HAL, which is powered by two Shakti engines and inherits many technical features of the Advanced Light Helicopter.
The FOC Certificate and Release to Service Document (RSD) relating to Tejas were handed over to the Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa on the opening day of Aero India 2019 on Wednesday.
FOC involves addition of key capabilities to the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) aircraft which are Beyond Visual Range Missile capabilities,Air-to-Air Refuelling, Air-to-Ground FOC earmarked weapons and general flight envelope expansion.
Initial Operational Clearance for the aircraft was given in 2013 and IOC standard Aircraft were inducted into IAF No.45 Squadron in July 2016.
The IAF squadron has since flown over 1,500 sorties successfully on the aircraft.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
