India’s domestically built light combat aircraft successfully test fired an air-to-air missile Oct. 25 in what the defense ministry called a “significant milestone.”br /The combat jet, named Tejas — the Hindi word for radiance — fired a Russian-made short-range R-73 missile off India’s west coast in Goa state.br /“The historic event marks the beginning of weaponization of the… (Tejas) program,” according to a defense ministry statement.br /Built by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., the Tejas is billed as the world’s smallest, light-weight, multi-role combat plane.br /The missile test paves the way for the introduction of the aircraft into the Indian air force.br /“The Tejas will be inducted into service by 2011-12,” a defense ministry official said.br /The plane completed about 500 test flights by December 2005, and the Indian air force has placed an order for 20 such aircrafts with the company.br /The test came a day after India successfully tested its nuclear-capable Agni-1 ballistic missile for the second time in less than a month.br /India, which held nuclear weapons tests in 1998, has developed a series of nuclear and conventional missile systems as part of a missile-development program launched in 1983.

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