Kakinada, Nov 10th: Minister of State for Defence M M Pallamraju on Tuesday clarified that armed forces would not be deployed to combat naxalites. Addressing newspersons here, he said the armed forces would enter the field only when the civic administration exhausts all ways of tackling the Naxalite menace. ''However, the armed forces would provide the necessary logistic support like armed tanks and equipment,'' he added. The question of direct participation of the armed forces to combat the naxalites does not arise, he said. On empowering the air force personnel to shoot down the naxalites, he said such powers could be utilized only for self-defence.

Stating that modernization of the armed forces was going on in a big way, Mr Pallamraju said plans were under way for joint ventures in the key areas of research and development with other countries. ''Now it is confined only to research and development. In due course it would extend to manufacturing also. Developing of Brahmos missile jointly with Russia is the best example. The Brahmos supersonic cruise missile is three and- a-half times faster than the latest US missiles and has identical configuration for being launched from land and sea. Now the air version of the Brahmos is getting ready'', he said. Mr Pallamraju said two more aircraft carriers would be added to our naval fleet in the next five years.