Lca Test Flight By December

India will begin production of short-range surface-to-air missile Trishul by the end of 1998, and is making all efforts to test fly its sophisticated light combat aircraft (LCA) by this December, defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav said.

As many as 35 tests including user trials by the armed forces of Trishul have been conducted, and the short-range low-level quick reaction missile would be ready for production towards the end of next year, Yadav told newsmen here on Wednesday.

The developmental trials of Akash, a medium-range surface-to-air missile with multiple target handling capability, was continuing and it would be inducted into the armed forces after user trials are completed, the defence minister said.

Yadav declared that financial constraints would not be allowed to come in the way of defence preparedness, and added that both the Prime Minister and the finance minister had given him repeated assurances in this regard.

Emphasising the need for self-reliance in defence, Yadav asserted that we will not succumb to any pressure (from any power).

Yadav said there was a broad consensus among political parties about sensitive issues relating to national security and whatever is needed to make India strong will be done.

The minister reiterated that New Delhi was according top priority to the development of intermediate range ballistic missile Agni which has a range of 2,500 km.

Denying that India had any immediate plans to test Agni again, he said research was being carried out by the Defence Research and Development Organisation headed by A P J Abdul Kalam for the next stage development of Agni.

India has already successfully test-fired Agni, a re-entry technology demonstrator missile, thrice from the test firing range at Chandipur in Orissa.

Stating that the Agni project has not been shelved, Yadav said financial crunch will not be a hurdle in the development of Agni.

Admitting that there had been some delays earlier in some of the defence projects including LCA and the main battle tank Arjun, he said steps had been taken to ensure that there were no further delays.

Asked about investments in defence projects and acquisition of equipment including advanced jet trainers for the Air Force, Yadav said that these would be taken care of in the ninth plan.

Kalam, while elaborating on the reasons for the delay in implementation of defence projects, said there was a need to keep pace with the constantly changing technology.

Noting that a sound base for technology had been developed in the country, Kalam said LCA development was a complex programme but we have all the technology for the project available with us now.

About project sea bird naval base, he said this had been approved and would be fully funded by the government.