 "Sitharaman calls for building military aircraft in India")
Without directly acknowledging that cancelling the tender for building 126 fighters in India, and instead buying 36 fully-built Rafale fighters, was a missed opportunity, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has urged the Indian Air Force (IAF) to lead the way in indigenous manufacture.
Addressing a meeting of top IAF commanders in Delhi on Thursday, Sitharaman said the IAF would “play a vital role in enhancing the defence manufacturing capabilities of the nation through its acquisitions in the form of strategic partnership (SP) model”.
The SP model of procurement, which was promulgated in outline in May 2017, envisages Indian companies manufacturing four
