NEW DELHI: The Indian mind is as good as any western mind and it has no reason to suffer from an inferiority complex, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam chided young defence scientists this week.

“I can assert without fear of contradiction that the quality of the Indian mind is equal to the quality of any Teutonic, Nordic or Anglo-Saxon mind,” he said in a convocation address at the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology in Pune.

“What we lack is perhaps courage, what we lack is perhaps driving force, which takes one anywhere. We have, I think, developed an inferiority complex. I think what is needed in India today is the destruction of that defeatist spirit.”

The president, who pioneered India’s nuclear missiles systems, told the students of the difficulties with which Indian scientists were able to overcome international resistance to build advanced weaponry, including light combat aircraft and the long-range Agni missile.

He became the first Indian head of state to fly in a warplane when he was on board a flight of Russian-built Su 30 MKI on Thursday.

“I realised that Indian Air Force has a unique fighter system in the world. It can be made into a force multiplier through the use of three BrahMos missiles, two on the wings and one under the belly,” President Kalam said. “With mid-air fuelling capability, Su 30 MKI integrated with BrahMos configuration will be the best fighter in the world at least for a decade. Of course the aircraft has to go through certain modifications.”

India and Russia have jointly developed the nuclear-capable supersonic cruise missile which has three version in the 280-km range — ship/land-launched, air-launched and sub-launched.

“Future warfare is an integrated warfare of Army, Air Force and Navy,” the president told defence officers at a separate function in Pune.

“This has come out very clearly during the Kargil operations.”