The first naval variant of the homegrown light combat aircraft (LCA) rolled out on Tuesday, giving a significant boost to India’s efforts to build a fighter jet fleet for the Navy?s aircraft carriers.

The Naval Prototype-1 (NP-1) that rolled out is a trainer aircraft modelled on the Indian Air Force?s LCA trainer which is currently undergoing flight testing. ??The Navy?s ambitious plans of designing and developing a naval aircraft capable of operating from indigenous aircraft carriers have got a significant boost on Tuesday,?? said defence minister AK Antony who witnessed the rollout at a Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) facility here.

The Rs 1,714-crore programme to develop the LCA-Navy fighter and trainer versions was sanctioned in 2003. The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), which is heading the LCA programme, aims to fly the NP1 by October.

The Navy hopes to induct the fighter version by 2014 when its indigenous aircraft carrier, being built at the Cochin Shipyard, will enter service, said Admiral Nirmal Verma, chief of Naval Staff.

The Navy currently operates Sea Harriers on the carrier INS Viraat. The Russian-made INS Vikramaditya, earlier called Admiral Gorshkov, which is expected to enter service in 2012, will operate Mig-29K aircraft.

Though based on the LCA?s trainer for the IAF, the naval prototype required a redesign to allow it to take off from and land on much shorter stretches. ADA is also setting up shore-based test facility in Goa which will have a ski-jump and arresting gear like in aircraft carriers for which specialised equipment is being supplied by Russia.

HAL will need to expand, modernise and recruit more engineers to cope with the production challenges of current and future projects, said RK Singh, secretary, defence production. The military plane maker expects to begin supplying an initial batch of 20 LCAs to the IAF by next March, even as the order for an additional 20 planes was cleared by the defence acquisition council earlier this year.

As many as 10 prototypes of the LCA are being test flown currently. ADA is aiming at getting the initial operational clearance by the year-end after which the fighter can be delivered to the IAF squadrons.

Antony said that long-criticised projects indigenous projects such as the LCA, Main Battle Tank ?Arjun? and Akash missiles have now become successful efforts with the defence forces placing more orders. ??It shows that Indian scientists and the industry, both public and private, are coming of age,?? he said.

The Army has now doubled its initial order of 124 ?Arjun? battle tanks while a total of 10 squadrons of Akash missiles will be supplied to the IAF and Army.