Article Posted on : - Feb 25, 2009

LCA at the recently concluded Aero India 2009. BNS photo

NEW DELHI (PTI): The European aviation giant EADS has shown interest in collaborating with India on the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Trainer programme, currently being developed by DRDO.

"EADS has shown interest (in LCA Trainer)... They witnessed the LCA flight at Aero India," DRDO chief M Natarajan said at a function here for commercialising DRDO developed technologies.

The DRDO chief added that Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer has also shown interest in working with India on the programme.

He added that the EADS is going to be involved in the LCA project and will be helping the DRDO to carry out the flight envelope studies for the aircraft.

DRDO is planning to sign a deal worth over USD 20 million with EADS for involving the European agency. Another European agency, Eurojet is also vying for the contract for supplying engines for the Mark II version of the aircraft.

When asked about the potential of DRDO-developed testers for laser and Infra-red Guided missiles for induction in armed forces, DRDO chief said, "I agree that potential exists for marketing these systems in a big way." LCA programme was started by DRDO in mid-80s and the aircraft is scheduled to be handed over to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Initial operational clearance (IOC) configuration by December 2010.