* 1983 - DRDO obtained permission to initiate a programme to design and develop a Light Combat Aircraft
* 1984 - Government of India set up Aeronautical Development Agency ADA in 1984 as the nodal agency for managing and developing the LCA.
* 1985 - IAF submits Air Staff Requirements (ASR) for LCA in October 1985. This was initiated by the then Air Chief Marshal Idris Hassan Latif.
* 1986 - Programme to develop an indigenous powerplant (engine) was launched at GTRE.
* 1987 - Project definition commenced in October 1987 with French Dassault Aviation as consultants.
* 1988 - Project definition completed in September 1988.
* 1989 - Government review committee expresses confidence in LCA programme. It was decided that the programme will be carried out in two phases.
* 1990 - Design of LCA was finalised as a small delta winged reverse static stability aircraft.
* 1990 - Phase 1 of the development was commenced to create the proof of concept system. Financial problems with in India prevented full scale operations
from starting.
* 1993 - Full funding started from April 1993 full-scale development work for phase 1 started in June.
* 1995 - First technology demonstrator, TD-1, rolled out on 17 November 1995 and was followed byTD-2 in 1998. However, technical problems in flight control systems and structural deficiencies plagued the prototypes and they remained grounded.
* 1997 - Multi-Mode Radar (MMR) for LCA design work started at HAL’s Hyderabad division and the LRDE.
* 2001 - LCA’s maiden flight successfully completed by Technology Demonstrator TD-1 , on 4th Jan,2001. Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee renames LCA as Tejas.
