An Indian Air Force plane met with an accident in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer on Tuesday. The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas of the Indian Air Force crashed close to Jaisalmer throughout an operational coaching sortie. The pilot has ejected safely.

Reacting to the incident the Indian Air Force stated in a press release, “One Tejas aircraft of the Indian Air Force met with an accident at Jaisalmer, today during an operational training sortie. The pilot ejected safely. A Court of Inquiry has been constituted to find out the cause of the accident.”

The latest crash marks the primary incident involving the indigenous jet since its inaugural flight 23 years in the past. The Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, a domestically produced supersonic plane utilized by the Indian navy, is on the centre of this mishap. Initiated by the Government of India in 1984, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program led to the institution of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) to supervise its growth. HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited), India’s personal aerospace firm, spearheaded the design and growth of the LCA Tejas. In 2003, this system was formally dubbed ‘Tejas,’ which interprets to ‘radiance’ in Sanskrit, by then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It is the second supersonic fighter jet developed by HAL (the primary one being HAL HF-24 Marut).

Earlier final month, a Hawk coach plane of the IAF met with an accident throughout a coaching sortie in West Bengal. The airplane crashed within the civilian space close to the Kalaikunda Air Force Station. However, there was no lack of life or harm to any civilian property. Both the pilots ejected safely.

(With inputs from ANI)