New Delhi: In what’s been described as a golden letter day in Indian naval aviation history, the Light Combat Aircraft (Navy) today successfully carried out its first-ever arrested landing at the shore-based test facility at the naval air station INS Hansa in Goa.

Developed indigenously by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), this naval variant of LCA’s successful landing will pave the way for the next step at aircraft carrier landing demonstration on board the INS Vikramaditya, the Russian-origin warship that India bought and is operating since November 2013.

After several years of flight testing and four campaigns of dedicated testing at Shore Based Test facility, the LCA (Navy) flight test team led by Commodore J. A. Maolankar (Chief Test Pilot), Captain Shivnath Dahiya (LSO) and Commander J. D. Raturi (Test Director) successfully executed a text book arrested landing at the test facility, a Ministry of Defence statement said.

“This arrested landing heralds the arrival of true indigenous capability and displays the professional prowess of our scientific community at Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), embedded with design and build capability of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited‘s Aircraft Research and Design Centre, DRDO and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research labs involved in executing this land mark event,” the statement said.

Other agencies that participated in the LCA (Navy) programme include the certification agency CEMILAC, quality control agency DGAQA, the Indian Navy’s project office and DAPM at the Indian Navy headquarters in the defence ministry.

The successful arrested landing at a test facility has put India on the world map as a nation with the capability to design a deck landing aircraft.