Bangalore: Sitting on the edge of his seat, Russian President Vladimir Putin today (Dec 5, 2004) watched with awe as the home grown 'Tejas', the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), swivelled and rolled to display India's prowess in building a supersonic fighter.

Piloted by Gp Capt Rakesh Bhadhuria, the technology demonstrator (TD-2) of Tejas impressed the Russians with its manoeuvres in the brief sortie, organised by India's state-owned aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to show the country's strength in this hi-tech area.

"We explained to Putin on the cooperation between India and Russia in producing Sukhoi-30 MKI, one of world's most advanced fighters, and the very high capabilities of design and development of fighter aircraft in India," HAL chairman Ashok K Baweja told reporters after Putin viewed the flight display of LCA, the intermediate jet trainer (IJT) and 'Dhruv', the Advanced Light Helicopter.

The IJT, currently undergoing flight trials with a French Larzac engine, will eventually be powered with a Russian engine being built by Lyulka NPS Saturn, which also showed on HAL's design capabilities.

With an ability to carry over 1,000 kgs of armaments, IJT flown by Sq Ldr Baldev Singh went on a roll saluting Putin and the assembled team, while a fantastic display by Dhruv, left everyone impressed with India's determined focus on building aircraft that is agile, light and impressive.

Putin, Baweja said, was eagerly observing the details of the three aircraft in the static display, besides of the Su-30MKI that was built at the Nashik unit of HAL.