Centre clears Rs 62,000-crore deal to buy 'made in India' 97 Tejas Mark 1A fighter jets

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Security on Tuesday approved purchase of 97 additional Tejas LCA Mk-1A from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited at a cost of about Rs 62,000 crore to boost the Indian Air Force’s depleting squadron strength, sources said.

The approval comes nearly two years after the initial nod from the Defence Ministry and will be a big boost to indigenous defence manufacturing business.

However, the Union government has not yet officially confirmed the CCS approval for 97 additional jets.

The delivery of the aircraft, sources said, would begin after HAL completes the supply of 83 similar aircraft for which the Defence Ministry awarded a Rs 45,696 crore contract to the Bengaluru-based aviation company four years ago.

The HAL, however, has not been able to supply a single Tejas LCA Mk-1A to the IAF because of the US major General Electric’s failure to supply the F404 engines for the aircraft.

After a two years delay, the supply began on a slow pace this year with the HAL receiving only two engines so far. While the contract with GE was to supply 99 engines for the first batch of 83 Tejas Mk-1A jets, sources said, the US company has a backlog of 24 aircraft as of now.

Notwithstanding the delay, the HAL officials had claimed earlier this year that the company would be able to supply 180 aircraft by 2031-32 as per the original plan. HAL currently has two assembly lines and a third is set to become operational at Nashik.

The indigenous fighter aircraft programme, backed by Defence Ministry and Air Headquarters will not only promote indigenisation but will also give a leg-up to small and medium enterprises engaged in defence business across the country.

Sources said the indigenous content in the new batch of Tejas LCA-Mk1A would be around 65%. The LCA MK-1A has 43 “improvements” as compared to the 40 first generation aircraft that are part of the IAF and are used primarily for training purposes.

The CCS approval comes at a time when the IAF is looking at its lowest combat strength of 29 squadrons after the retirement of the last two squadrons of MiG-21 next month.