BANGALORE: Aviation major HAL will role out indigenously produced produced 16th LCA as per the target till March 31 and the customer flights are expected to be completed by the end of this month. 

HAL has order for 40 LCAs (16 fighters each in IOC and FOC and 8 trainers) from IAF. The aircraft was inducted into IAF squadron ‘Flying Daggers’ on July 1, 2016. The production of LCA commenced in 2014 with a current production capacity of eight aircraft per annum. A second production line has been established at Aircraft Division (Bangalore Complex), which is carrying out structural assembly, final assembly and equipping of the aircraft, according to a HAL press release here on Monday.

Recently HAL had received drawings and documents related to FOC with limited clearance for LCA (Tejas) from CEMILAC and ADA. With this HAL can start working towards productionisation of FOC standard fighter aircraft. The first aircraft in FOC configuration may roll-out by the end of this calendar year.