LCA Tejas adds 5th gen air-to-air missile to its weapons capability

Indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LAC) Tejas added the 5th generation Python-5 Air-to-Air Missile (AAM) to its air-to-air weapons capability after successful trials, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said on Wednesday.

“Trials were also aimed to validate enhanced capability of already integrated Derby Beyond Visual Range (BVR) AAM on Tejas. The test firing at Goa completed a series of missile trials to validate its performance under extremely challenging scenarios,” a DRDO statement said.

Derby missile achieved direct hit on a high speed manoeuvring aerial target and the Python missiles also achieved 100% hits, thereby validating their complete capability, it said. “The trials met all their planned objectives.”

Missile carriage flight tests

Prior to these trials, extensive missile carriage flight tests were conducted at Bengaluru to assess integration of the missile…