HAL treats Jaitley with flying display of its air power

Bengaluru, May 30 State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) treated acting Defence Minister Arun Jaitley with a special flying display of its fighters, trainer jets and helicopters at its airport in this aviation hub.

"The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) Hawki and basic trainer aircraft Hindustan Turbo Trainer (HTT 40) in the fixed-wing segment participated in the air display," said the defence behemoth in a statement here later on Monday.

In the rotary wing segment, the company's test pilots flew the prototypes of the Light Utility Helicopter (LUH-P2), Light Combat Helicopter (LCH-II & IV) and choppers in service Cheetal, Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Mark III Dhruv and ALH Mark IV Rudra.

"Jaitley also visited the company's facilities where LCA and ALH are assembled and integrated for test flights," added the statement.

HAL Chairman and Managing Director T. Suvarna Raju and other officials briefed the Minister on the various projects being executed for the defence services.

Jaitley, who is the Union Finance Minister since May 2014, has been holding the defence portfolio again since March 14 after Manohar Parrikar resigned to become Goa Chief Minister after the Assembly elections in the west coastal state.

Jaitley was on a two-day visit to Karnataka to unveil the country's first full-fledged Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) at Challakere in the state's Chitradurga district on Sunday, built by the city-based Aeronautical Defence Establishment (ADE) to test its Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones and other weapons for the Indian armed forces./Eom.