 "Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on board the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya which is currently sailing along India's western coastline")
On September 28 Defence Minister Rajnath Singh commissioned the second of six Scorpene submarines (Khanderi) and launched the first Project 17A frigate (Nilgiri), both at Mazagon Docks Ltd (MDL). A few days earlier, he had flown in a LCA (Tejas) fighter aircraft built at Hindustan Aircraft Ltd (HAL) in Bengaluru. Some months earlier, a 155 mm gun based on the Swedish Bofors design had been test-fired successfully by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). These appear to be impressive steps on the march towards self-sufficiency in defence production. It is necessary, however, to give them context.
Khanderi was not really
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