Bangalore: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on May 4 christened the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) as "Tejas".

Tejas, meaning radiance, was chosen from a list of 20 Sanskrit names to be apt for the fourth generation fighter.

Vajpayee earlier witnessed a flight display of technology demonstrators TD-1 and TD-2 of LCA at the HAL airport.

Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, Defence Minister George Fernandes and scientific advisor to the Defence Minister Dr V K Aatre were present.

Conceived in 1983, the development of LCA had been hit by delays due to various reasons including sanctions by the United States post Pokhran blasts before it made its maiden flight on January 4, 2001.

Both the technology demonstrators have so far made 69 flights and a final clearance for the aircraft is expected after 2,000 hours of flying.

The tailless, delta-winged, digital, fly-by-wire aircraft, which is presently powered by an American GE- 404 engine, is expected to replace the Indian Air Force's ageing MiG 21 fleet in future.

PTI