The first indigenously built Su-30MKI multi-role jet was handed over to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the presence of Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee here Sunday.

Built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) using technology transferred to it by Russia's Sukhoi firm, the frontline jet was rolled out at the Ozar airbase. The second jet will be ready by the end of the current fiscal March 31.

HAL will build 140 of the jets under a $3 billion deal signed in 2000. Russia had signed two other deals to supply 50 Su-30s to the IAF, a majority of which has already entered service.

The Su-30 will form the backbone of the IAF's fighter fleet in the decades to come.

HAL's production of the jet is being seen as a milestone in the indigenous manufacture of combat aircraft.

Addressing the ceremony at the airbase, Mukherjee said: "We don't have any territorial ambition. We don't want to play the role of aggressor.

"But that does not mean we should not be careful about our defence requirements. We are equally determined not to allow anyone to annex even a small portion of our land."

On the reduction of troops in Jammu and Kashmir, the defence minister said: "It was not merely meant to convey some message because of the visit from a neighbouring country, but to recognise the fact that due to the efforts of armed forces we were able to reduce the rate of infiltration."

He said India had been a victim of cross-border terrorism. "We lost more lives, including civilians, than we lost in four wars that we fought with Pakistan.

"We cannot keep our eyes shut to these developments."

Mukherjee said the world community would have to recognise in "clear and unmistakable" terms that terrorism had no geographical boundaries. Any attempt to recognise and support terror will come in the way of peace and amity in the post-Cold War era, he noted.

--Indo-Asian News Service