On Thursday, India's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Tejas completed the 1000th sortie. This feat is being described as a landmark in the country's aeronautical sector's history by Aeronautical Development Agency.

It was revealed by the ADA sources that the sortie lasted about 30 minutes. Tejas was being flown by the chief test pilot of the National Flight Test Centre, Capt J A Maolankar.

The Tejas program has come a long way since the first flight by the Technology demonstrator-1 on January 4, 2001, which lasted 18 minutes.

Programme Director M S Subramanyam said, "That the programme achieved this milestone without any major setbacks bears testimony to the skill and competence of all the programme components. The Tejas team has become a role model for executing large R&D programmes in the country."