In a historic milestone, indigenous LCA Mark 1A fighter aircraft on March 28 completed its first flight. The aircraft airborne for 15 minutes during its first maiden flight, as per Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Currently, two squadrons of IAF, 45 Squadron and 18 Squadron, are fully operational with LCA Tejas. HAL has current capacity to build 8 LCA aircraft per year, this is being increased to 16 aircraft`s every year by 2025. In coming years the capacity will be further increased to 24 aircraft every year in the next 3 years. Over Rs 9000 crore have been sanctioned for the development of LCA Mk 2, an updated and advanced version of LCA Tejas. Earlier in the 2023, Air Chief Marshal stated that the Indian Air Force aims to replace the MiG-21 fighter jets with LCA Tejas.