NEW DELHI: New Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh on Tuesday expressed his intent to further push the indigenous fighter aircraft projects as he said that the force has already ordered 200 plus TEJAS jets and now needs to focus on the TEJAS MK-2 and fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft programs.

In his first media interaction after taking over his new appointment, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh told ANI that he has been associated with the TEJAS program from the flight testing and it is very close to his heart. He said the TEJAS is a little too small of an aircraft for the current situation, however “we have such a place for an aircraft and have ordered 200 plus aircraft of this type.”

“We need to move on now and focus more on TEJAS MK-2 aircrafts and Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft program,” he said.

Singh recently ‘intercepted’ the German Air Force chief in an TEJAS aircraft in exercise Tarang Shakti and made history along with Navy and Army Vice Chiefs by flying together in the TEJAS aircraft over Jodhpur skies to push the indigenous program.

The new IAF chief stated that the motto we have given this year is ‘Sashakta Sudridh and Aatmanirbhar,””We have the capacity and capability within the country to achieve this. Everybody has to come together to make it a success. We are relying heavily on these two platforms,” he added.

On being asked about his key focus areas, Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said, “The air force will continue to move forward towards self-reliance, operational capabilities and better training. These will be my focus areas and as time goes we will keep on realigning to the situation as it changes”.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday he laid a wreath at the National War Memorial and took blessings from his mother Pushwant Kaur who had come there with other family members.

(With Inputs From Agencies)