Saab unveiled the first of the next generation of combat fighters, the Gripen Demonstrator aircraft this afternoon in Sweden. Here are the first pictures from the ceremony today. Feast!
Just finished reading Air Marshal Philip Rajkumar's
The Tejas Story (
Manohar Publishers). A rare look inside the Light Combat Aircraft programme. I'll be posting some excerpts and a review in the next couple of days; but I recommend the book outright. It's a must read for anyone with even a passing interest in how the LCA came to be. It's got loads of inside stuff on the ego clashes, the whimsical demands from everywhere, the massive personality clashes and finally, of course, a nice bit about how our scientists overcame the death-drought of post-Pokhran sanctions. One of the fun books I've read recently.
An interesting point came up in today's Parliament questions. The Defence Minister has said that the government was making efforts to relax the 26 per cent foreign direct investment cap in defence to facilitate HAL's Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA) programme. Imagine -- it took the needs of public sector undertaking to get the damned cap relaxed, when the private sector has clamoured for years and years for the same. More soon on the MTA.
Photos ©Copyright Gripen International by Peter Karlsson, Svarteld form & foto AB
