Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who laid the foundation stone for a helicopter unit in Tumakuru district in Karnataka today, has set a deadline for the PSU HAL - the first chopper assembled at the unit should take the maiden flight in 2018.

"I am confident that the HAL will achieve this target... The first chopper manufactured here should fly out by 2018. It is my dream that this unit assembles 600 helicopters over the next 15 years for the service of our Armed Forces," Modi said in his public speech near Gubbi, a small town in Tumakuru district.

The government is investing over Rs 5,000 crore on the new helicopter factory spread across 600 acres of land. It will provide employment to more than 4,000 families, including farmers, in the region. "This will be the first factory in India to indigenously assemble helicopters through our own innovations and technology. We want to ensure that Make in India momentum gains strength," he said.

Modi lamented that India had to continue to rely on advanced nations to procure arms and military equipment. "We are purchasing arms by paying thousands of crores of rupees to these nations. The irony is that they do not supply us the latest arms and equipment. When we ask them for the latest military equipment, they will be supplied after five years? If we have to keep abreast and maintain parity, we should develop our own weapons indigenously. We are working towards achieving self-reliance in manufacturing arms and military equipment," he added.

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