Rajnath Singh Calls for an Integrated Civil-Military Aerospace Ecosystem at HAL, Bengaluru

20 September 2026National

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called for an integrated civil-military aerospace ecosystem at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bengaluru on 18 September 2026, linking it to indigenous strength in aircraft design, avionics, propulsion, composite materials, flight control systems and certification. At the same event HAL handed over LCA Tejas twin-seater trainers and HTT-40 basic trainers to the Indian Air Force, and Dhruv Next Generation helicopters to Pawan Hans. He flagged delays in defence technology projects as a cause of capability gaps and cost escalation, and named artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, electronic warfare, cyber technologies and next-generation propulsion as priority areas.

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HAL was founded in 1940 and is headquartered in Bengaluru | HTT-40 is India's indigenous basic trainer aircraft, developed by HAL | Dhruv (ALH) is an indigenous multi-role helicopter platform

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