Tejas first flew 25 years ago — and taught India what it takes to build a fighter
- Chethan Kumar
- TNN Jan 04, 2026, 18:26 IST IST
On Jan 4, 2001, a compact fighter rolled down a Bengaluru runway and lifted something far heavier than its own weight. Entwined in those 18 minutes aloft were decades of ambition, argument, delay, improvisation and quiet resolve. Twenty-five years later, the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas stands as the only indigenously developed fighter to enter service with Indian Air Force: as much a technological milestone as a reminder that India’s long quest for self-reliance in combat aviation remains unfinished.
But at HAL’s airport in Bengaluru that Thursday morning, all that was running through Wing Co Rajiv Kothiyal’s head were the meticulously worked-out details of the first tech demonstrator of the LCA programme. Aged 42 then, the IAF test pilot stepped confidently on to Runway 09 at the National Flight Test Centre, ready to attempt something that had never done before. But there was unease, too. This was uncharted territory.
But at HAL’s airport in Bengaluru that Thursday morning, all that was running through Wing Co Rajiv Kothiyal’s head were the meticulously worked-out details of the first tech demonstrator of the LCA programme. Aged 42 then, the IAF test pilot stepped confidently on to Runway 09 at the National Flight Test Centre, ready to attempt something that had never done before. But there was unease, too. This was uncharted territory.
