HAL Given Orders worth Rs 45,000 crores For 83 Tejas Fighters
The IAF had issued a tender for 83 Tejas about two years ago but the project was stuck over the pricing issue as the the Air Force felt that the price asked by the HAL was much higher.
In a major boost for both the IAF and HAL , orders for around Rs 45,000 crore are to be placed with HAL for manufacturing of 83 Tejas MK1 A Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). This will be a major fillip to indigenous production of fighters in India and help increase the Squadron strength of the IAF.
The IAF had issued a tender for 83 Tejas MK1A about two years ago and the project was stuck over the pricing issue as the Air Force felt that the price offered by the HAL was much higher.
“The cost committee of the Defence Ministry has determined the cost of the 83 LCA Mark 1A aircraft around Rs 45,000 crore and the Indian Air Force is now expected to place orders for these planes in the next few weeks,” said a senior defence official.
The LCAs have been designed an developed completely by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Earlier this year, DRDO chief G Satheesh Reddy had presented the Final Operational Clearance (IOC) certificate for the LCA to the IAF and the Defence Ministry at the Aero-India.
Sources said it would be the first-of-its-kind order for any Indian firm and would give major boost for the indigenous defence industry. More than 65 per cent funds of the Rs 45,000 crore order would remain within the country and help in creating jobs in both private and public sectors.
The Acceptance of Necessity given by the Defence Ministry over two years ago was Rs 50,000 crore but the price determined by the ministry’s cost committee was reduced to around Rs 45,000 crore.
The first LCA Mark 1A aircraft is likely to be produced by 2023 once the HAL is done with the supply of the initial 40 planes in the Initial Operational Clearance and Final Operational Clearance standards which have already taken part and proven themselves in the IAF operational exercises such as the Exercise Gagan Shakti.
LCA Mark 1A is the advanced version of Tejas aircraft.
As per the requirements presented by the IAF, the first LCA Mark 1A fighter would be supplied in 36 months from the signing of the contract. The new LCA Mark 1A plane will have more advanced avionics and radars than the initial 40 MK1 LCAs being supplied to the Air Force.
The HAL has so far supplied 16 LCAs to the service which has based them at Sulur in Tamil Nadu under 45 Squadron. Now after the orders HAL must gear up its production line to ensure that by all the fighters are produced by 2026. By that time production can switch to MK2 version.
