[en] Full text: Steady State Superconducting Tokamak (SST-1) is an ''operational'' experimental superconducting device since late 2013. Since last IAEA-FEC; SST-1 has been upgraded with plasma facing components being installed and integrated in the vacuum vessel and is getting prepared towards long pulse operations in both circular and elongated configurations. The PFC integration has been completed in August 2015 and initial experiments have begun in SST-1 with circular plasma configurations. SST-1 offers a unique possibility of investigating long pulse discharges with large aspect ratio (> 5.5) compared to contemporary devices. Presently, SST-1 standard ohmic discharges are in excess of 100 kA with typical core density ~2 x 10¹⁹ /m³ and core electron temperatures ~500 eV having duration in excess of 300 ms. A 42 GHz ECR preionization source at ~150 kW in 1.5 T central field breaks down the gas, the current starts up at ~1:3 MA/s in 60–80 ms in an induced field of ~0:3 V/m. These standard discharges demonstrate copious saw teething and MHD activities as the pulse progresses including NTM, mode locking and MHD characteristics. PFC equipped SST-1 has completed these basic experimental studies confirmed with simulations. These includes eddy currents influencing the NULL dynamics, field errors, equilibrium index evolutions, wall influencing plasma characteristics, plasma positions, plasma rotational and tearing mode characteristics including the island width and island growths, etc. Presently, SST-1 is attempting at multi second long high aspect ratio plasma discharges by coupling the lower hybrid with the Ohmic plasma as well as with robust real time position and density controls. The SST-1 device has been upgraded with a pair of internal coil aimed at effective fast plasma control and a pair of segmented coil aimed at controlling some of the rotational aspects of plasma including the RMPs and ELMs. Supersonic molecular beam injection (SMBI) from both high field and low field sides and pellets injection systems have also been added with several edge plasma diagnostics aimed at both density control and edge plasma turbulence studies. The upgrade details including the planned ones, salient early plasma characteristics in large aspect ratio PFC equipped SST-1 plasma and future experimental plans towards long pulse operations in SST-1 will be elaborated in this paper. (author)