Fighter aircraft Tejas cleared to carry Python-5 air-to-air missile: Centre

Tejas, India’s indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), has been cleared to carry the 5th generation Python-5 air-to-air missile (AAM) as a part of its weapons package which would significantly enhance its combat abilities, the Centre said on Wednesday.

The decision was taken on Tuesday after a series of trials were conducted to validate the performance of the aircraft.

Tejas added the Python-5 AAM in its air-to-air weapons capability on Tuesday, according to a statement issued by the defence ministry.

The trials were aimed to validate the enhanced capability of the already integrated Derby Beyond Visual Range (BVR) AAM on Tejas. The test-firing of the missile was done in Goa on Tuesday which completed missile trials to validate its performance under extremely challenging conditions.