Kingfisher Airlines, India’s second-largest airline by passengers carried, will close its low-cost operation, Kingfisher Red, Chairman Vijay Mallya says. “We are doing away with Kingfisher Red because we don’t intend to compete in the low-cost segment. We believe there are more than enough guests who prefer to travel full-service, and that shows in our own performance, where the load factors in [full-service] Kingfisher Class are more than in Kingfisher Red,” Mallya says.

NEW DELHI — India plans to conduct the first development flight of the long-range Agni-5 missile in December. “Agni-5 will take us to a level of 5,000-kilometer-plus ... missile systems, which meets all our threat requirements,” says V.K. Saraswat, chief of India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). However, Saraswat adds, “Though India has the capability of developing long-range missiles, we are not developing any intercontinental ballistic missiles. Our threat perception today doesn’t require developing any ICBMs.”

NEW DELHI — India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has conducted engine tests of the naval Light Combat Aircraft prototype in the southern city of Bengaluru. The first engine ground run (EGR) of aircraft NP1 was conducted at the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) complex on Sept. 26 with the primary objective of checking aircraft-to-engine integration. In addition, flight control, hydraulics, fuel systems, electrical and avionics systems were evaluated, a DRDO official says.