Bangalore: Defence Minister George Fernandes on August 20 said the much-awaited Advance Jet Trainer (AJT) deal would be cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) "within the next fortnight".

"The government decision should come within the next fortnight," Fernandes told reporters after attending a function of the public sector engineering giant Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) in Bangalore.

Asked about "other players" in the reckoning apart from the British Hawk, he declined to comment on it, saying, "Whatever we (Ministry of Defence) have decided is before the CCS. It is not for me to make any comment."

PTI