Dassault-Breguet has been selected to assist the Indian Aeronautical Development Authority (IADA) in the design and manufacture of a new Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) with the prototype's first flight scheduled in 1990. An official statement is expected soon. Thirty top-flight engineers from Dassault-Breguet are due in India shortly to act as technical advisers to IADA in charge of the LCA programme. The aircraft, currently in the project definition stage, is to be a single-seat single-engine design with a 23,0001b maximum takeoff weight and a delta-wing layout. Service entry of the 12-5 tonne air superiority/ ground attack LCA is targeted for 1994, with about 200 required to replace the MiG-21 Fishbeds and HAL Ajeets in the Indian Air Force. The Indian government has been seeking technical assistance from American and European manufacturers for the LCA programme, and a fierce competition has raged among Lockheed, Grumman and Northrop as well as as well as British Aerospace, MBB, Dornier, and DassaultBreguet. Finally, DassaultBreguet was chosen for the LCA programme and won a $100 million technical cooperation contract with India's Aeronautical Development Authority. Dassault-Breguet will assist the Indians in the design and systems integration ' of the aircraft. LCA prototypes will be powered by General Electric F404 engines. The first of 11 GE F404-F2J3 turbofans purchased from the United States in 1986 was delivered earlier this year in preparation for the prototype's first flight. But the French are hoping that the Indian government will, in due course, adopt Snecma's new M88 Mkll fighter engine now under development for the DassaultBreguet Rafale combat aircraft. The LCA's multifunction radar will be designed and developed by an Indian electronics company and produced in India. Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) is going ahead with plans for the production of the LCA which will have composite structures and fly-bywire control systems. The French-Indian LCA technical co-operation agreement in no way prejudges the decision which the New Delhi Government is due to take early next year on the selection of a trainer and tactical support aircraft to be purchased abroad and later assembled in India. The British Aerospace Hawk and the DassaultBreguet/Dornier Alpha Jet are competing for this programme. The Indian Government needs 83 such aircraft —75 for the Indian Air Force and eight for the Indian Navy. Following up its LCA success, Dassault-Breguet is going all out to win the trainer deal, too. This latest Indian contract comes as a shot in the arm for Dassault-Breguet which is going through a period of great economic turbulence at home.