The recent winding down of the last MiG-21 Squadron of the Indian Air Force brings the focus sharply back to India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme.
The first attempt to produce a light combat fighter aircraft goes back to 1969, when a Committee of Aeronautics, chaired by the Defence Minister, recommended a roadmap for its development. For this, the Aeronautics Research and Design Bureau was set up under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in 1970, but limited governmental investment, the 1971 war, and the 1974 nuclear test, with its resultant technology embargo by the West, stymied the plans.