India's Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) has successfully completed a second firing test of a Derby beyond visual range air-to-air missile.
India's Ministry of Defence says it has achieved a milestone towards Final Operational Clearance (FOC) of the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) following the successful firing of a Derby beyond visual range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM).
The test, which was carried out on 27th April on the firing range off the Goa coast, expands the firing envelope as well as demonstrating safe operation of the aircraft during missile plume ingestion into the aircraft engine under worst-case scenarios.
The integration of the Israeli Derby BVR missile is one of the major objectives for Tejas FOC. The recent test followed an initial test firing in May 2017.
Based on the successful integration and demonstration, the Regional Centre for Military Airworthiness (RCMA), a unit of DRDO, has cleared the series production aircraft of Squadron 45 to be equipped with Derby operational capability.
LCA Tejas has successfully completed a series of captive flight trials to clear Derby for full operational capability across the entire FOC envelope.
In another recent step towards FOC, the Tejas successfully completed a hot refueling trial in February.