Bengaluru: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday in the homemade light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas that took off from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited airport here this morning.
#WATCH Defence Minister Rajnath Singh flies in Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, in Bengaluru. #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/LTyJvP61bH
— ANI (@ANI) September 19, 2019
He became the first-ever Defence Minister to fly in the fighter jet.
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Singh was accompanied by Air Vice Marshal N Tiwari. The Defence Minister who donned a white helmet waved to onlookers after he took his seat in the back in the twin- seater version of the aircraft before it took off.
Ahead of the flight today, Singh tweeted two pictures of him dressed in a green flight suit. "All Set For The Day!" he posted. The Tejas is an Indian single-engine, delta wing, multirole light fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.
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It came from the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme, which began in the 1980s to replace India's ageing MiG-21 fighters. In 2003, the LCA was officially named "Tejas". (ANI)
