No, they are not the same indeed... But HVT once mentioned that after CATS is made available IAF will have to go for several twin-seaters (may or may not be trainers upward to LIFTs) to operate them from as motherships.Barath wrote:I don't think the 10 twin seat trainers ordered with the FOC are the same as LIFT, if that was what was meantRishiChatterjee wrote:.. now we will have 83 Mark1A plus LIFTs, ..
"he design of LCA-LIFT is based on the LCA twin seat airframe & engine. The aircraft will be upgraded & improved to have the ability to replicate the software & avionics of other fighters" . The twin seat trainers will be part of the operational squadron, LIFT will be prior.
Edit: On re-read, I believe that was not what you were saying.
Plus the 1st Tejas trainer will come out in Surya Kiran livery (mostly because how complicated it is to detail all the body of operational machines, compared to a painted body).