Rajnath flies in LCA Tejas, first Defence Minister to do so

Bengaluru:Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday became the first Defence Minister to fly in the indigenous fighter Aircraft LCA Tejas, from the HAL  Airport in the city on Thursday, giving a big boost to the country's defence manufacturing industry and the Indian Air Force.

Mr Singh, who took off on the board at 0958 hrs, will fly in aircraft for over 30 minutes.The Indigenous fighter Aircraft LCA Tejas designed to replace Mig-21 had been inducted into the Indian Air Force as its 45 squadron in July 2016, can fly at a maximum speed of over 2205 km per hour.

Mr Singh, was given pre-flight instructions from the pilots of the fighter aircraft, before it soared off into the sky to the thunderous applause from those who were present at the airport.

The indigenously built fighter aircraft, which flies over 1.6 times of the sound speed, is a multi-role fighter metal bird, which can fly at an altitude of over 50000 feet in the sky.

Tejas, a single-engine, delta wing, multi-role light fighter was designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and is produced by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force.(UNI)