Indian Military

New Delhi – India’s ‘Tejas’ Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) is undergoing sea trials in Goa which is a part of the out-of-station flight-test plan for the LCA. Five prototypes of indigenously developed and manufactured ‘Tejas’ LCA will be put to rough sea trials at the Hansa Naval Air Station (NAS) at Dabolim in Goa.

The ‘Tejas’ LCA requires a host of system integration checks and various weapon modes still need to be tested. Officials pointed out that the ‘Tejas’ LCA needs to be checked for some more sea-level performance points in high-angle-of-attack (AOA) mode.

During the sea trials, the ‘Tejas’ LCA will be subjected to parameter identification (PID) and sea-level flutter vibration tests, with an all-external stores (bombs, fuel tanks, missiles) configuration. The PID is conducted with the latest software version of the digital flight control computer (DFCC) being developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE).

KARACHI: About 12 hours after storming Pakistan navy's key airbase in the heart of the port city of Karachi, heavily-armed Taliban militants were still holding onto parts of the base after destroying two US-made surveillance aircraft and killing 12 military personnel.
Pakistan army's elite Special Service Group (SSG) and naval commandos backed by helicopters were hunting down a group of 15-20 militants who attacked the naval premises last night in the worst assault on a military base since the Army Headquarters was besieged in October 2009 in Rawalpindi.
Security forces were engaged in a deadly gunbattle with armed militants since last night after the militants sneaked into the PNS Mehran, the naval air station within Faisal airbase, from three residential points adjacent to the air base.
Fifteen loud explosions were heard from the base, the headquarters of Pakistan's naval air arm, following the attack and intermittent firing was reported till this morning.
The security forces also killed four militants and have captured four alive, a senior security official said.

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA: A Navy panel says the service should discharge former astronaut Lisa Nowak, who lost her NASA job over a bizarre airport attack on a romantic rival.

The panel made the recommendation on Thursday after a daylong hearing at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville.

The recommendation now goes to the Naval Personnel Command. A final decision will be made by the Secretary of the Navy.

The panel recommended downgrading Nowak from captain to commander and giving her a discharge of ``other than honorable.''

Nowak was sentenced to a year on probation last November after pleading guilty to third-degree felony burglary and misdemeanor battery.

Nowak confronted her romantic rival in the parking lot of Orlando International Airport in February 2007 after driving from Houston.