India signs for additional Tejas Mk 1A light combat aircraft
India's second batch of Tejas Mk 1A light combat aircraft is scheduled for delivery from 2027–28. (HAL)
India's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed a INR623.7 billion (USD7 billion) contract with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to procure an additional 97 single-engine Tejas Mk 1A light combat aircraft (LCA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The MoD said on 25 September that the deal features the acquisition of 68 single-seat aircraft and 29 twin seaters. It said deliveries of the second-batch Mk 1A aircraft are scheduled to start from 2027–28 and be completed within six years.
The new procurement will take the IAF's planned inventory of Tejas Mk 1A LCAs to 180. The IAF ordered an initial batch of 73 Mk 1As as well as 10 Mk 1A trainers in 2021.
The MoD said the newly ordered aircraft will be equipped with locally developed core systems including control surface actuators, the Uttam active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, and an electronic warfare suite known as ‘Swayam Raksha Kavach'.
The MoD also said the procurement will progress through its ‘Buy (Indian–IDDM)' procurement category. IDDM stands for indigenously designed, developed, and manufactured, and mandates a minimum of 50% of content sourced from local industry.
According to the MoD, the Mk 1A will feature indigenous content of “over 64%”. It added, “The project is being supported by a robust vendor base of nearly 105 Indian companies directly engaged in the manufacture of detailed components. The production is expected to generate close to 11,750 direct and indirect jobs per year for the duration of six years.”
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