The Hindu : National : Speed up trials on Tejas: MPs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 04, 2005

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National

Speed up trials on Tejas: MPs

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Defence Ministry on Tuesday urged the Government to expedite trials on the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), `Tejas', being developed in Bangalore.

They said the Air Force should speed up user-trials so that it could be inducted earlier than the initial operational clearance period of 2007 and the final clearance three years later.

The members, who were given a multimedia presentation, sought clarifications and reiterated the need for marketing Tejas globally after it met the IAF's requirements.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said though work was apace on Tejas, India would procure state-of-the-art weapons and equipment from the global market in keeping with the security environment and threat perceptions. He assured the members that all efforts were being made for the induction of Tejas on the basis of the stringent requirements projected by the armed forces.

Among those who attended the meeting were Milind Deora, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Suresh Kalmadi, Naveen Jindal, Sanjay Dhotre, Madhu Goud Yaskhi (Lok Sabha) and Karan Singh, Vijay Mallya, Robert Kharshiing, Santosh Bagrodia (Rajya Sabha).

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