Big day for IAF! Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria flies solo LCA and “Flying Bullets” is resurrected

Bhadauria has been always been pushing and supporting indigenisation of various programmes in the IAF and he has always supported the LCA.

The Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria on Wednesday flew the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) ‘Tejas’ with 45 Squadron at Air Force Station Sulur. He was visiting the base for the Operationalisation ceremony of the 18 Squadron the “Flying Bullets”. This base has been resurrected with the induction of the fourth generation Mk1 LCA Tejas. In the first major event post-COVID-19 lockdown, Air Chief’s action has signalled the IAF’s support to the indigenous fighter and his solo flying gave a boost to the young squadron. And it is also an indication that things are getting back on track post-COVID-19 lockdown.

At today’s event senior IAF officers as well as R Madhavan the CMD of HAL was also present.

Besides the 45 Squadron, from today 18 Squadron will be the home for LCA fighters.

Bhadauria has been always been pushing and supporting indigenisation of various programmes in the IAF and he has always supported the LCA which is being produced by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Who will be leading the experienced team at the 18 Squadron?

The Flying Bullets, according to officials, the Commanding Officer (CO) is going to be Group Captain Manish Tolani. In 2001, Tolani was commissioned into the fighter stream of IAF.

Earlier he was the flight commander of `Fly Daggers’ and is a Cat-A Qualified Instructor. He has also been an Instrument Rating Instructor\Examiner and comes with vast experience on MiG 29, MiG 21, Hawk MK 132A. And now the indigenous fighter `Tejas’.

Group Captain Dinesh Dhankhar will be assisting Tolani as the Flight Commander of Flying Bullets. The COO of the AFS Sulur is going to be Gp Capt Madhav Rangachari, who has experience on the `Tejas’ platform and has also been the first CO of Flying Daggers.

So far the HAL has already delivered 16 IOC variants till date to IAF and is expected to eight trainers and 16 FOC Tejas fighters in the next couple of years.

Also, according to officials the next two fighters Tejas SP-22 and Tejas SP-23 are going to join Flying Bullets in the next one month.