Watch: Rajnath Singh Flies In LCA Tejas In Bengaluru, Becomes First Defence Minister To Do So

Defence minister Rajnath Singh flied a familiarisation sortie on LCA Tejas today, reports ANI. With this, the 68-year-old Singh became the first defence minister to do so.

The exercise was conducted from the HAL airport, and the defence minister was accompanied by Air Vice Marshal N Tiwari, Project Director, National Flight Test Centre, ADA (Aeronautical Development Agency) in Bengaluru.

Singh flew a sortie in the twin-seater version of Tejas after a briefing by Indian Air Force pilots. He was seen waving before the fighter jet took off.

The defence minister will also attend an exhibition of products of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Bengaluru. Nirmala Sitharaman, in January this also became the second woman leader to go on a sortie on a Sukhoi-30 fighter jet.

Last Friday, the naval variant of LCA Tejas became the first aircraft in India to successfully perform an "arrested landing" at a shore-based test facility in Goa. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has already inducted a batch of Tejas aircraft.