Bengaluru, May 24 (IANS): It is not appropriate for the Indian armed forces forever to fly their fleet to the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) for repairs, a top scientist said here on Friday.

"The equipment repair overall, they give to the OEM, they go back to Israel or anywhere the equipment is bought from. That is not the appropriate way of doing it forever," said K. Tamilmani, director general of Aeronautical Systems, told IANS on the sidelines of the launch of IndiaMRO.

"When India was very weak that model was very good. But when we have learnt so many things, when we make LCA (Light Combat Aircraft), we cannot repair a small box? We should do it," said Tamilmani while pointing out the extremely expensive nature of OEM repairs.

The scientist said Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) in the defence sector was at multiple levels and done completely by the armed forces themselves.

However, the Indian private industry was not yet ready to cater to the MRO requirements of the armed forces, he said.

It will take time to recreate the model followed by the civil aeronautical industry for the armed forces wherein the complete repair and overhaul was done, Tamilmani said.

"But we (Indian private industry) have not reached such a level as the test facilities needed for that are quite enormous so the private industry has to wait for some more time."