Chief of Air Staff visits Bengaluru defence establishments

He underscored the crucial role of the establishments in furthering the shared goal of building an indigenous aviation industry

Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria, Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) visited Indian Air Force (IAF) units and the flight test establishments of DRDO and HAL in the city on Monday and Tuesday.

During his visit to the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), Bhadauria was given an overview of ongoing projects and briefed on the progress of operational trials.

The CAS also visited the Software Development Institute (SDI), the unit tasked with undertaking development of avionics software. He noted that the sustained focus on critical projects by the Institute had contributed significantly to increasing the operational and functional capability of IAF. CAS outlined his vision for SDI to move towards software indigenisation for integration of various weapons on IAF aircraft and achieving self-reliance in enhancing combat potential.

Apart from flying in Tejas IOC variant, Bhadauria also interacted with the test crew and engineers of Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), DRDO and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

He underscored the crucial role of both the establishments in furthering the shared goal of building an indigenous aviation industry capability of meeting future requirements.