Bengaluru: BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Thursday took a sortie in HTT-40, India's indigenous basic trainer aircraft at the ongoing Aero India-2025 here.

He flew in the aircraft, designed and built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), for 30 minutes.

'A Symbol Of India's Aeronautical Progress,' Says BJP MP

Speaking to the media, the BJP MP lauded HAL calling it a pride of Bengaluru, a pride of India, and a symbol of India's aeronautical progress.

"Today I had the opportunity to fly in HTT 40, produced by our own HAL. HAL is the pride of India. It is the pride of Bengaluru," he said.

According to him, this particular aircraft has a very interesting and important story, a legacy, and a lesson for the people of India who are interested in the nation's progress and national security.

He alleged that in 2012 the UPA government placed an order to procure trainer jets from a Swiss company and purchased Pilatus aircraft.

"This procurement was riddled with questions and in 2019 a CBI inquiry proved that there was an involvement of a middleman. Indian companies like HAL were not given prominence and the transaction was opaque. The investigation led to the blacklisting of this Swiss company. The entire process led to the indigenous trainer aircraft manufacturing project suffering tremendously. The project was almost shelved," he said.

The Bengaluru South MP said that after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, with the painstaking efforts of the then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, HAL was given the necessary encouragement, financial support, and administrative encouragement to restart the manufacturing of the indigenous basic trainer jet.

"In a record 40 months, HAL and our own engineers produced this HTT 40 which is a state-of-the-art basic trainer jet produced completely in India and in that sense HTT 40 is a symbol of how India has travelled from scandal to self-reliance. From foreign dependency to aatmanirbharta (Self reliance), from not trusting our own institutions and our own engineers to manufacturing such state-of -the -art aircrafts that are second to none in the world," he added.

At the 2021 Aero India, Surya had taken a sortie in Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas for 30 minutes.

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