HAL’s Tejas fighter cleared its cold weather testing at Leh last month.
“The aircraft made three consecutive starts using indigenous gas turbine starter at minus 15 degrees Celsius with 85 per cent charged battery a few days ago. Prior to the start, the aircraft was cold soaked for 18-20 hours (even 42 hours on one occasion) outside the hangar in Leh and no heating source was used for starting,” T Suvarna Raju, Chairman, HAL, said in a release.