A jubilant Union defence minister Manohar Parrikar claimed a “double success” on Friday and rightly so.
After 33 years of being in the pipeline, two homegrown Tejas Light Combat Aircraft finally made it to the IAF squadrons. Meanwhile, off the Orissa coast, an Indo-Israeli jointly developed missile — an upgraded version of the Israeli Barack 8 missile — successfully shot down an intelligent target.
“The Tejas is a beautiful product. Its response is better than the foreign ones (in the LCA category),” said Mr Parrikar at a conference of chartered accountants where he was the chief guest.
Commenting on the long years of delay, the Union minister said: “Probably there was no accountability, but the final product is a good one.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi meanwhile Tweeted: “Induction of indigenously made Tejas fighter jet into the Air Force fills our hearts with unparalleled pride & happiness. This illustrates our skills & strengths to enhance indigenous defence manufacturing.”
Meanwhile rubbishing reports of a failed missile test from the defence base in Orissa, Mr Parrikar said the medium-range missile tests were all successful with the most important one being conducted on Friday.
“The tests were perfect. The first test on Thursday was to hit a target 8 km up and 40 km away. The second one was a low target. And today’s (Friday’s) test was the most important one, which was an outright success,” Mr Parrikar told this newspaper.
“We successfully intercepted a target which exactly replicated an enemy missile or aircraft. It is most significant because the target was an intelligent one and could maneuver.”
Offering congratulations on the successful missile tests, President Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement: “I extend hearty congratulations to all those associated with the successful test-firing of the Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM), developed jointly with Israel.”
“The nation is proud of the achievement made by DRDO and looks upon DRDO to make even greater efforts to boost India’s indigenous defence capabilities in technologically challenging areas,” the President added in a message to Mr S. Christopher, director general, DRDO.
