india aircraft 8jun2

MOSCOW, June 6 (AFP) - India opposes a plan for US and UN troops to patrol the powderkeg province of Kashmir, favouring joint patrols by Indian and Pakistani troops, India's National Security Advisor Brajesh Chandra Mishra said Thursday.

"This terrain is a very difficult one, and only India and Pakistan know it inch by inch. Therefore it is more important that India and Pakistan monitor this territory inch by inch on their own," Mishraj told a press conference in Moscow.

Meanwhile, India successfully completed a second test of its ambitious homegrown fighter jet, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), in the southern city of BANGALORE, officials said.

The aircraft was flown for about half-an-hour and its flight was witnessed by Defence Minister George Fernandes and LCA project director Kota Harinayana.

The LCA made its first test flight in January and was unveiled in public at an air show in Bangalore the following month.

India hopes the LCA -- which had been on the drawing board since 1983 -- will reduce dependency on imports for its technology-starved air force, the fourth largest in the world.

India's air force has been plagued by frequent crashes of its outmoded fleet, causing heavy losses of trained pilots as well as of equipment.

The LCA project ran into trouble when the United States imposed sanctions following India's nuclear tests in 1998.

The fighter jet is currently using a General Electric engine and would later start using the domestic Kaveri engine.