Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandra Babu Naidu on Thursday laid the foundation stone for the ‘core integration and flight-testing centre’ for the next generation advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA), a fifth-generation plane, at Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh.They also presided over ceremonies for a range of strategic aerospace and defence projects at Puttaparthi Andhra Pradesh.The total outlay for the AMCA programme is around Rs 15,000 crore, and the core integration and flight testing centre of Aeronautical Development Agency, an affiliate organisation of DRDO, is a vital component of the project. The facility is being established at a cost of approximately Rs 2,000 crore.“Puttaparthi is set to join the exclusive league of global destinations from which a fifth-generation aircraft will take to the skies. It will become the birthplace of an aircraft capable of annihilating the enemy in the blink of an eye,” said Rajnath Singh.Rajnath Singh and Naidu also laid the foundation of another facility at Anakapalli district in the state to cater to the requirements of advanced underwater weapon and naval combat systems. Called the Naval Systems Manufacturing Facility, it is a Rs 480 crore project of Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), a public sector company under the Ministry of Defence. It will focus on autonomous underwater vehicles, underwater counter-measure systems, and next-generation torpedoes. It will manufacture several critical components and sub-systems that the nation has, until now, been importing from abroad.Also grounding-breaking ceremonies were carried out for the Defence Energetics Facility and the Ammunition and Electric Fuses Plant at Madakasira. In addition, a consortium of eight drone companies have joined forces to establish a Drone City in Kurnool. Various companies also exchanged MoUs with the government of Andhra Pradesh to establish defence units in the state.