Arrestor Hook System tested for India's Naval LCA Tejas

The naval variant of India’s home-grown light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas successfully snagged the jet’s tail hook on the arresting wire of the flight deck of the navy’s only aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya at a test facility in Goa.

This was the first in a series of rigousous tests that will be carried out before the fighter can be tested for actual flight deck operations, which could take more than a year, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) said in a statement Thursday.

This is the first of a series of engagement planned at proving the arrestor hook capability, T. Suvarna Raju, Chairman and Managing Director of HAL said.

The HAL’s design wing, Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC) has designed and developed the Arrestor Hook System (AHS) for Ship Deck operations of LCA Naval version. The LCA Naval Prototype 2 (NP2), has been integrated with this AHS. Having verified in-air operation of Arrestor Hook System in Bengaluru on July 23, 2018, the aircraft has been operating at INS Hansa Goa, since July 28, 2018. 

Carrier Compatibility trials (CCT) of Naval Aircraft are slated to be carried out at shore based test facilities, built at Indian Naval Base Goa. The CCT involves completion of extensive shore based trials before embarking on actual deck. This trial is the stepping stone towards completion of CCT trials of LCA Navy.