India joins select club of deck landing of jets

India has joined the select club of  countries like US, Europe, Russia and China having the capability of Deck landing of fighter aircraft. According to HAL statement issued in Bengaluru on Thursday the LCA Naval Prototype 2 (NP2), piloted by Capt Shivnath Dahiya safely executed the first contact of the arrestor hook system with Arresting wire at moderate taxi-in speeds on location at the Shore Based Test Facility, on board  INS Hansa at  Goa.

This is the first of a series of engagement planned at proving the arrestor hook capability says Mr. T. Suvarna Raju, CMD-HAL.

The HAL’s design wing, Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC) has designed and developed the Arrestor Hook System (AHS) for Ship Deck operations of LCA Naval version. The LCA Naval Prototype 2 (NP2), has been integrated with this AHS. Having verified in-air operation of Arrestor Hook System in Bengaluru on July 23, 2018, the aircraft has been operating at INS Hansa Goa, since July 28.

Carrier Compatibility trials (CCT) of Naval Aircraft are slated to be carried out at shore based test facilities, built at Indian Naval Base Goa. The CCT involves completion of extensive shore based trials before embarking on actual deck. This trial is the stepping stone towards completion of CCT trials of LCA Navy.