Taking a major decision on Wednesday, the government has approved the purchase of 83 light combat aircraft Tejas developed in the country for the Indian Air Force at a cost of Rs 48,000 crore. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said that this decision was taken in the meeting of the Central Committee on Security, which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a tweet, Singh said that this deal will be a game-changer for self-reliance in defence manufacturing in India.
The CCS chaired by PM Sh. Narenarendramodi today approved the largest indigenous defence procurement deal worth about 48000 Crores to strengthen IAF’s fleet of homegrown fighter jet ‘LCA-Tejas’. This deal will be a game changer for self reliance in the Indian defence manufacturing.
– Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) January 13, 2021
The air force will get strength
He said that under the chairmanship of Narendra Modi, CCS has approved the largest indigenous defence shopping deal worth about 48 thousand crores today. This will strengthen the Indian Air Force’s fleet of LCA-Tejas fighter jets developed in the country. The Defense Minister said that Tejas is going to be the base of the fighter fleet of the Indian Air Force in the coming years.
About three years ago, the Indian Air Force issued the initial tender for the purchase of 83 Tejas aircraft. Singh said that a large number of new technologies have been added to LCA-Tejas, many of which were never seen in India. The indigenous share in LCA-Tejas is 50 per cent in Mk1A variants, which will be increased to 60 per cent.
HAL developed
The Defense Minister said that the aircraft manufacturing company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has already set up second-line manufacturing facilities in its Nashik and Bengaluru divisions. He said that the HAL with increased infrastructure would increase the production of LCA-Mk1A for timely delivery to the Indian Air Force. Singh said that the Tejas program will play a key role in improving the Indian aerospace manufacturing ecosystem. The Defense Minister said that he thanks Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this historic decision taken by CCS today.
