Singapore Defence Minister praises Tejas again

Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on Wednesday once again heaped praise on indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, in which he flew on Tuesday, and said he was impressed by the aircraft as well as the pilot.

"It's not very often that Defence Minister of another country can get the privilege of being flown in the light combat aircraft Tejas and as I said yesterday I am utterly impressed with your pilot and the aircraft," Ng said.

Ng was flown in the Tejas aircraft at Kalaikunda airforce station in West Bengal, where two Tejas aircraft had been brought in from Bengaluru.

The Project Director for Flight Testing at the Aeronautical Development Agency, Air Vice Marshal AP Singh was the pilot who flew the visiting Singapore minister on an around half an hour sortie.

Ng had called Tejas a "very good plane" on Tuesday but did not say if Singapore was interested in buying the fighter jet.

Indigenously developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency, and produced by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Tejas, as a fourth generation aircraft, can fly at 1,350 km per hour and is comparable to the world's best fighters, including French Mirage 2000, American F-16 and Swedish Gripen.

The fighter jet was inducted into 45th Squadron of the Indian Air Force in July 2016. The plan is to double its production from the present eight to 16 aircraft each year.

--IANS

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