The crash of India’s Tejas fighter in front of global arms buyers at the Dubai Air Show is the latest blow to a key national trophy, leaving the jet reliant on Indian military orders to sustain its role as a showcase of home-built defence technology.
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The cause of Friday’s crash was not immediately known but it capped a week of jockeying for influence at the event, attended by India’s arch-rival Pakistan six months after the neighbouring foes faced off in the world’s largest air battle in decades.
Such a public loss will inevitably overshadow India’s efforts to establish the jet abroad after a painstaking development over four decades, experts said, as India paid tribute to Wing Commander Namansh Syal who died in the crash.
“The imagery is brutal,” said Douglas A. Birkey, executive director of the US-based Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, referring to the history of crashes at air shows where nations and industries seek to tout major national achievements.
“A crash sends quite the opposite signal: a dramatic failure,” he said, adding however that while the Tejas would suffer negative publicity, it would most likely regain momentum.
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Dubai is the world’s third-largest air show after Paris and Britain’s Farnborough, and accidents at such events have become increasingly rare.