Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Urges Unified Civil-Military Aerospace Development at Bengaluru HAL Handover Event

Key facts

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called for an integrated aerospace ecosystem serving both civil and military aviation, stressing indigenous capabilities to strengthen technological self-reliance.
• At a ceremony in Bengaluru on September 18, attended by Singh and Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited handed over two LCA Tejas Final Operational Clearance twin-seater trainers and three HTT-40 basic trainer aircraft to the Indian Air Force.
• HAL also handed over four Dhruv Next Generation helicopters to Pawan Hans Limited for civil operations.
• Singh flagged delays in defence technology projects, warning they can create gaps in meeting critical defence requirements, increase costs and risk technologies becoming outdated before induction, and called for realistic timelines.
• He urged stronger public-private cooperation, saying public and private companies should be collaborators rather than competitors in building next-generation aerospace capabilities.
• Singh called for greater indigenous development in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, unmanned aerial systems, electronic warfare, cyber technologies and next-generation propulsion.