Bengaluru : Prime Minister Narendra Modi co-piloted and undertook sortie the indigenous trainer version of light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas. The PM was in Bengaluru visiting the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited site. during his visit to state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.Modi arrived in the city earlier today and visited Defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics  Limited to review the ongoing work at its manufacturing facilities, officials said.

 After the flight, which took from HAL Airport lasted several minutes, Prime Minister said in a post on X,  “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 .Flying in Tejas today, I can say with immense pride that due to our hard work and dedication, we are no less than anyone in the world in the field of self-reliance. Heartiest congratulations to the Indian Air Force, DRDO and HAL as well as all Indians,” he added.

Several countries have evinced interest in buying Tejas, a light combat aircraft, and US defence giant GE Aerospace  had inked a pact with HAL to jointly produce engines for the Mk-II-Tejas during the Prime Minister’s recent state visit to the US.

According to sources here, Under the Narendra Modi government, an order of ₹36,468 crore for the delivery of 83 LCA Mk 1A Tejas aircraft has been placed with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The delivery of these Tejas aircraft is scheduled to begin by February 2024, they said, asserting that the government has taken giant steps for increasing India’s defence preparedness and indigenisation, which includes Tejas fighter aircraft.

“The LCA Tejas twin-seater is a light-weight, all-weather, multi-role 4.5 generation aircraft. It is designed to support training requirements of the IAF and augment itself to the role of a fighter in case of necessity,” HAL said about the LCA in which the PM flew.