Coimbatore: Eulogising the advantage of Atmanirbhar Bharat in Indian Air Force, Sulur Air officer Commanding Air commodore Rahul Gupta has said the initiative would not only boost India’s indigenisation production but also enhance defence capability.

“Indigenisation is definitely the way forward and if you do not indigenize and remain dependent on foreign vendors then you will forever be dependent on them. Indigenisation is the only way forward ahead. I feel ALH and LCA are definitely stepping in the right direction. This will not only boost our own indigenisation production but also our defence capability,” Gupta told ANI.

Air officer Commanding also said that the Sulur Air Force base is strategically located in the peninsular part of the country to address threats from both the land and maritime domain.

“We are the only Indian Air Force station in the entire Indian Air Force which operates all 3 types of aircraft which is transport, helicopters as well as fighters. We are the only base in the Indian Air Force which operates TEJAS. I m also proud of the fact that this base host two stellar examples of our indigenisation in defence aviation which are light combat aircraft and advanced light helicopter,” he mentioned.

Group captain M Surendran, who is a pilot of TEJAS said,” Being an indigenous aircraft gives us an advantage that other foreign platforms do not have in terms of any modern weapons which will come in the future. “

Talking further about the qualities of indigenous TEJAS, Surendran highlighted, “These are light combat aircraft. TEJAS is indigenously designed in India. It gives us an advantage in upgrading it with modern technology. Aircraft are designed for safe & agile flying. We have the capability to integrate them with new weapon systems.”

TEJAS pilot highlighted a special feature of TEJAS aircraft is that Fly-by-wire is indigenously designed by Indian scientists which are comparable to or mostly better than other aircraft available in the Indian Air Force in terms of flying qualities.