Defence Ministry Awards HAL Rs 65,000 Crore Contract for 97 LCA Mark 1A Jets

The Indian government has taken a monumental step toward achieving self-reliance in the defense sector by issuing the largest ever order for indigenous military hardware. The Defence Ministry has placed a tender worth over Rs 65,000 crore with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the purchase of 97 made-in-India LCA Mark 1A fighter jets. The LCA Mark 1A is an advanced version of the Tejas aircraft.

This ambitious move aims to modernize the Indian Air Force (IAF) by replacing its aging fleet of MiG-21, MiG-23, and MiG-27 fighters, which are nearing or have already reached the end of their operational lifespan.

Government officials emphasize that this indigenous fighter aircraft program, backed strongly by the Defence Ministry and Air Headquarters, will provide a significant boost to indigenization and offer substantial business opportunities for small and medium enterprises in the country's defense sector.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has actively championed the revival of HAL, spearheading efforts to secure government contracts for building indigenous fighter aircraft, helicopters, and their engines. In a symbolic gesture, the Prime Minister became the first Indian PM to fly in a combat aircraft when he took a sortie in the trainer variant of the indigenous fighter.

The decision to acquire 97 additional LCA Mark 1A jets initially surfaced during a foreign visit to Spain by Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, who shared India's ambitious plans to expand its indigenous fighter aircraft fleet. This announcement followed a comprehensive review meeting of the program conducted by the Air Chief with key stakeholders, including HAL.

It's noteworthy that HAL previously received an order for 83 LCA Mark 1A aircrafts, with deliveries expected to begin shortly. Compared to the initial 40 LCAs already in service with the IAF, the LCA Mark 1A model incorporates more advanced avionics and radar systems, raising the overall indigenous content to an impressive 65%.

This initiative underscores India's unwavering commitment to achieving self-reliance in the aerospace sector, promoting the nation's "Atmanirbhar Bharat" and "Make in India" missions. HAL also expects to receive future deals to supply over 200 LCA Mark 2s along with a similar quantity of advanced fifth-generation Medium Combat Aircraft.

 

[soham roy]

By the time HAL delivers initial 83 orders of Tejas mk1a, which would be around 2030, the Tejas MK2 will be ready for production. Then we can order Tejas MK2 itself, why are we wasting funds on this fighter when a superior fighter like Tejas MK2 is available for production ?

Obviously the think tanks in IAF had given a lot of thought into this purchase, I just can't understand what the reasoning is.

If the Tejas MK2 is ready for production by 2030, when will the AMCA be ready for production? 2050?

 

[Sandeep]

While it’s good that we are going to order more jets the air force shouldn’t reduce the number of Tejas 2 jets that we need to buy. This is because we need its enhanced and lethal capability which gives us more firepower when needed. Also if the Tejas 2 is ready for production around 2030 and we are still making Tejas 1 jets then we shouldn’t start manufacturing Tejas 2 jets only until we complete the full order of Tejas 1 jets. We should start manufacturing Tejas 2 jets alongside any Tejas 1 jets are remaining.

In this second order they should increase the amount of indigenous content, equipment and technology. Also they should think about improving the jet even more by installing a IRST probe, wing tip hard points or permanent SPJ pods, installing more hard points, triple rack pylons to hold more weapons on each hard point etc.