A domestically made fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed on Tuesday in the western state of Rajasthan, the first such incident since the jet was inducted nearly eight years ago. The pilot ejected safely, the air force said in a statement. The light combat jet, called Tejas, meaning flame or brilliance in Sanskrit, was inducted into the force in 2016 after a long wait in India’s efforts to modernise its largely Soviet-era fleet. Tuesday’s crash breaks the jet’s safety record since its first test flight more than two decades ago, an air force officer told media.—Agencies
