New Delhi: The Indian Defence Ministry has issued a tender to the state-run aerospace major, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), for the procurement of 97 light combat aircraft (LCA Mk-1A) Tejas for the Indian Air Force (IAF), officials announced on Friday. The procurement of these fighter jets is expected to cost around Rs 67,000 crore. The Tejas aircraft is a potent platform for air combat and offensive air support missions. Its secondary roles include reconnaissance and anti-ship operations.
In November, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) had cleared the project to acquire 97 more Tejas jets for the IAF. This move is seen as a significant boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative in the defence sector. In addition to this, the DAC also approved a proposal of the IAF to upgrade its Su-30 fighter fleet.
The last order for LCA Mark1A was for 83 aircraft and the first plane is poised to be delivered in a few weeks from now. LCA Mark 1A is the advanced version of Tejas aircraft.
The programme will help the IAF to replace its fleet of MiG-21s, MiG-23s and MiG-27s which have been either phased out or are set to be phased out in near future, government officials told ANI.
The indigenous fighter aircraft programme, fully backed by Defence Ministry and Air Headquarters is set to be a big boost for promoting indigenisation as well as give major business to the small and medium enterprises engaged in defence business across the country, they said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing for the revival of the HAL which has bagged orders for building all types of indigenous fighter aircraft, helicopters along with the engines for them under his government.
The Prime Minister also undertook a sortie in the trainer variant of the indigenous fighter which was first ever sortie by the Prime Minister of India in any combat aircraft.
The plan to acquire 97 more LCA Mark 1A fighter jets was also announced first by the Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari on foreign soil in Spain when he told ANI about the mega plans to boost the indigenous fighter aircraft orders.