ADA Aeronautical Development Agency

ABOUT ADA - Aeronautical Development Agency

ADA (Aeronautical Development Agency), Department of Defence R&D is the nodal agency for the design & development of LCA. HAL is the principal partner in LCA Programme with participation of DRDO & CSIR Laboratories, Public & private sector industries and academic institutions.

Aeronautical Development Agency - History:

Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is a Society under the Department of Defence Research and Development, Ministry of Defence, Government of India.

To undertake, aid, promote, guide, manage, co-ordinate and execute research in aeronautical science, design and development of various types of aircraft and rotorcraft.

As the first task, the Society was entrusted with the design and development of a multirole Light Combat Aircraft to meet the requirements of Indian Air Force. While progressing the task of LCA development, ADA has also been assigned the task of studies for the Project definition Phase (PDP) of the naval variant of LCA, exploitation of resources created in the LCA programme for earning revenue is also being attempted.

Organisation of ADA:

Raksha Manthri is the President of the Society and its General Body. Currently Dr Satheesh Reddy, Secretary – DD R&D and the Chairman - DRDO is the Director General of ADA. He also holds the post of the Chairman - Governing Body.

Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) – Tejas Programme:

The LCA is being designed and developed with ADA as the nodal agency and with the participation of more than 100 work-centres spread all over the country. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is the principal partner in LCA development. Several establishments of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), CSIR, other Government laboratories, Public Sector Undertakings, private industries, academic institutions, Indian Air force and Government Certifying Agencies are participating in the programme as technology development partners.

The twin objectives of the LCA programme is to develop LCA for the IAF and simultaneously reduce the gap in the field of aeronautical technology available in India and the advanced nations of the West. While progressing development work packages for the LCA, various work-centres have succeeded in achieving technological break-through, which is significant not only for LCA but for subsequent projects also.