The first HAL LCA Prototype TD-1 was withdrawn from use in 2009.. We suspected it was headed for warbird duty.. and we were right!
In 2009, it was reported on the broadsword blog that the then HAL Light Combat Aircraft Fighter being developed was retiring its first ever example – the TD-1 / Technology Demonstrator after a mere six years in service.
At that time we wondered what would happen to it!
The aircraft has surfaced at DRDO Bhawan on Rajaji Marg in New Delhi in 2016. Unlike the ‘cannibalised’ state the TD-1 was last seen, the aircraft on display seems built up, and painted for static display and pole mounted. Ideally the aircraft should have been on the ground in the Indian Air Force museum as an airframe of historical value, but it is not to be.
