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.

 

[Anant]

Now it's better for HAL to stop thinking of export of Tejas. Stream line the production and deliver all 180 MK1A by 2030... Coz I think by then 200 mk2 production will start...

Not happening by a country mile. Delivering all 180 Tejas Mk 1As by 2030 means an average of 30 aircraft a year. That is significantly more than we have the infrastructure for, let alone the capacity for different production partners, and all of that is assuming HAL suddenly manages to approach anything remotely near half-decent production efficiency.

 

[AK S]

Bro, how many have they produced in an year in the past.

Gin ke theek theek bataa dei. Don't sprinkle fantasies like can/will/eye/gear/blah-blah, nobody has seen the future.

Tell us their best figure from the past. They have held production capacity of 16 aircrafts per year since at least February 2021 after they opened second production line.

HAL deserves criticism. Having said that I’d like to be factual. HAL’s best figure would be around 7-8 in a year around 2019. HAL has 5 new hangars and 3 Kiran legacy hangars (mostly buggy). The second assembly line with 8 hangar was ‘inaugurated’ by DM but first fighter is yet to come out … typically first one takes 2-3 years.

Last couple of years, production won’t be much as they started working on new type I.e. trainer. Generally takes about 3 year for the first example.

As far as MK1A is concerned, HAL has done a pretty good job in delivering first example in about 3 years. As far as availability of GE engine is concerned, there is a lot of time and most likely GE will be able to cope.

One can easily benchmark the schedule against Rafale. Dassault delivered first partly modified Rafale in 3 years and first fully modified one in about 5 years. On top, Dassault is well wheeled established OEM privately held. True, these were the timelines agreed by IAF. But IAF was obviously very generous. But then Rafale is foreign maal.

 

[StealthArmor]

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.

 

[Anant]

Note that this puts the Tejas Mk 1A at just over 80 million USD per aircraft in this order.

Therefore, HAL is either making a truly absurd amout of money on each jet, or the Tejas simply isn't as cheap as is often made out. Oh, and any points about the Rafale being offered at the same price point are completely mute.

 

[soham roy]

Need to replace the GE 404 with Kaveri and indigenous ejection seats. And Quartz Radom is important

Lol, Kaveri? Engine? HAL and DRDO tried reinventing the wheel at every stage, Kaveri will come in 2224. Not before that.

 

[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.