successfully carried out its first arrested landing and ski-jump assisted take-off from the aircraft-carrier INS Vikramaditya. In July 2020, the DRDO announced that the plan to develop an LCA Mark 2 Navy had been dropped and they were working on a new carrier-borne fighter according to the Indian Navy's multi-role carrier borne fighter requirement floated in 2016 to replace the current fleet of MIG-29K/KUB carrier-based fighters. In Aero India 2021 a new twin engine naval fighter was unveiled, the Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF). The experience gained in the N-LCA programme will help in the development of TEDBF. In February 2023, the naval prototype completed its maiden landing and take-off from the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. Program costs Development costs LCA Programme - (up to March 2020) Kaveri engine programme - additional design and development (Jan 2021) Flyaway costs for IOC Mark 1 (2014) for FOC Mark 1 (2010) for Mark 1A and for export variant (2021) Design Overview The Tejas is a single-engine multirole combat aircraft which has a tailless, compound delta wing design with "relaxed static stability" for enhanced manoeuvrability and agility. The Tejas is a multi-role combat aircraft and its flexibility permits it to carry out Interception, air-to-surface and anti-shipping roles in a single mission. The wind tunnel testing and computational fluid dynamics analysis have optimised the design of Tejas for minimum transonic and supersonic wave drag, as well low wing-loading. Tejas has eight hardpoints – one beneath the port-side air-intake, one under the fuselage (centreline station) and three hardpoints under each wing, of these, three are wet hardpoints which can carry drop tanks. The hardpoint beneath the port side air-intake is dedicated to carrying sensor pods such as FLIR, IRST or laser rangefinder/designator. These can also be carried on the centreline pylon and inboard pairs of wing stations. The Mark 1A has an aerial refuelling probe on the starboard side of the forward fuselage. The Tejas weapon suite consists of I-Derby ER and Astra beyond visual range air-to-air missiles and R-73, Python-5 and ASRAAM close combat missiles. The Tejas has an internal 23 mm Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23 twin-barreled autocannon under the starboard side air-intake. The BrahMos-NG supersonic cruise missile is being developed for the Tejas. The relatively smaller size, extensive use of airframe composites, the Y-duct inlet which shields the engine compressor blades, the application of radar-absorbent material (RAM) coatings and so on, reduces the