Modi said that it was an “incredibly enriching experience” to fly the indigenously developed aircraft.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday completed a sortie on indigenously developed Tejas aircraft in Bengaluru. The prime minister said that it was an “incredibly enriched experience” to fly the Tejas aircraft and that it has bolstered his confidence in “indigenous capabilities” of the country.
“Successfully completed a sortie on the Tejas. The experience was incredibly enriching, significantly bolstering my confidence in our country’s indigenous capabilities, and leaving me with a renewed sense of pride and optimism about our national potential,” he wrote on Twitter after the sortie.
PM Narendra Modi tweets, “Successfully completed a sortie on the Tejas. The experience was incredibly enriching, significantly bolstering my confidence in our country’s indigenous capabilities, and leaving me with a renewed sense of pride and optimism about our national… pic.twitter.com/PHKG5llA2j
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— ANI (@ANI) November 25, 2023
According to news agency ANI, Modi government has taken steps to increase the country’s defence preparedness and indigenisation which includes Tejas aircraft.
The first version of the aircraft was inducted into the IAF in 2016. Currently, two squadrons of IAF, 45 Squadron and 18 Squadron, are fully operational with LCA Tejas.
An order worth Rs 36,468 Crore for delivery of 83 LCA Mk 1A aircraft has been placed with HAL and delivery is scheduled to begin by February 2024, the agency said, citing sources.
More than Rs 9000 Crore have been sanctioned for the development of LCA Mk 2, an updated and more lethal version of LCA Tejas.
To further promote indigenisation, including of the aircraft engine, Transfer of Technology for manufacturing of the GE engine in India has been negotiated with GE during the Prime Minister’s visit to the US in June 2023.
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