Tejas fighter jet 'very very capable': Singapore defence minister
Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on Tuesday hailed Indias indigenously-built multi-role light combat aircraft Tejas as "very very capable".
As the first civilian foreigner to fly on Tejas, Ng took a half-an-hour flight in the two-seater plane piloted by Air Vice Marshal A P Singh at the Kalaikunda airbase here.
"It is a very very capable plane," Ng told reporters here after flying on Tejas.
Hailing Tejas as "very impressive", Ng said, "This is the reason why our air force trains with your air force. Pilots are superb, planes are pretty good."
Praising
Air
Vice
Marshal
Singh
as
a
"superbly
confident
and
supremely
professional"
pilot,
Ng
said
he
felt
as
if
he
was
riding
a
car
and
not
flying
in
a
fighter
aircraft.
"In
fact
the
plane
ride
was
so
smooth
that
despite
the
G-turns
and
manoeuvres,
I
managed
to
even
take
some
selfies,"
Ng
said.
Singh, who flew Tejas, is the project director of the National Flight Test Centre -- Aeronautical Development Agency.
Asked whether Singapore is interested in buying the Tejas fighter aircraft, the minister said he was not a pilot and it was up to the technical people to take a call on it.
Indian defence sources, however, said Singapore has evinced interest in Tejas.
During the Bahrain air show where Tejas aircraft was showcased, some Middle Eastern countries had also shown interest, the defence sources said.
Two Tejas aircraft were flown in here from Bangalore so that the Singapore defence minister can have a look at the aircraft.
Tejas aircraft was designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency and the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Indian Air Force and the Navy.
The
Singapore
defence
minister
is
scheduled
to
meet
his
Indian
counterpart
Nirmala
Sitharaman
in
Delhi
tomorrow.
"Bilateral
defence
ties
between
our
two
countries
are
strong
and
it
is
getting
stronger,"
Ng
said.
Asked whether they would discuss maritime security, Ng answered in the affirmative.
This would be Ngs second dialogue with Sitharaman. They had also interacted in Manila during the 11th ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting in October.
Singapore Air Force is holding joint military training with their Indian counterpart at the Kalaikunda airbase.
Asked about the joint military training, Ng said, "I hope this will continue for long."
The first joint military training between the Indian Air Force and the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) was held at the Gwalior air force station in 2004.
Such an exercise was first held at Kalaikunda in 2007 and since then regular joint training has been held at the air force station here.