Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday took a sortie on Tejas aircraft in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes a sortie on Tejas aircraft at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) site in Karnataka’s Bengaluru.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday took a sortie on Tejas aircraft at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) site in Karnataka’s Bengaluru.

“Successfully completed a sortie on the Tejas. The experience was incredibly enriching, significantly bolstering my confidence in our country’s indigenous capabilities, and leaving me with a renewed sense of pride and optimism about our national potential,” Modi wrote on X while sharing some pictures.

He was scheduled to review and visit HAL’s manufacturing facility, including the facility for Tejas jets.

The Indian Air Force recently issued a tender to the state-owned HAL for the purchase of 12 advanced Su-30MKI fighter jets.

“Recently, a tender has been issued to the HAL for buying the 12 Su-30MKI fighters, which will be manufactured in India by the HAL in partnership with the Russian original equipment manufacturers,” ANI has earlier quoted defence sources as saying.

The public sector company is expected to respond to the tender by next month with details of the project along with other details, they said.

The prime minister has been pushing for indigenous production of defence products and has highlighted as to how his government has boosted their manufacturing in India and also their exports.

Several countries have shown interest in buying Tejas, a light combat aircraft, and US defence giant GE Aerospace had inked a pact with HAL to jointly produce engines for the Mk-II-Tejas during the prime minister’s state visit to the US.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh had noted in April that India’s defence exports have reached an all-time high of ₹15,920 crore in FY 2022-2023. It is a remarkable achievement for the country, he had said.