New Delhi, Feb 20 (IANS): In a significant development towards the Tejas Mk1A programme, the Digital Fly by Wire Flight Control Computer (DFCC) was integrated in prototype LSP7 and successfully flown by the Indian Air Force.

The IAF informed the aircraft with DFCC was successfully flown on Monday. The DFCC has been indigenously developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru, for Tejas Mk1A.

The DFCC features Quadraplex Power PC based Processor, high-speed autonomous state machine based I/O controller, enhanced computational throughput and complex on-board software complied to DO178C level- A safety requirements.

All critical parameters and performance of the flight controls were found satisfactory. The maiden flight was piloted by Wg Cdr Siddarth Singh KMJ (Retd) from the National Flight Test Centre.

The Aeronautical Development Agency, under the aegis of Department of Defence R&D and Ministry of Defence, has successfully certified the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

The Indian Air Force has already operationalised Tejas LCA Mk1. The improved version of the aircraft, Tejas MK1A, features advanced mission computer, high-performance DFCC, Smart Multi-Function Displays (SMFD), Advanced Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, Advanced Self-protection Jammer, Electronic Warfare Suit etc.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh complimented the joint teams from the DRDO, IAF, ADA and industries involved in the development and successful flight test of this critical system for Tejas Mk1A and termed it as a major step towards 'Aatmanirbharata' with reduced count of special imports.