Government to buy 83 Tejas Light Combat Aircraft for Rs. 45,696 crores

The Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi on January 13, 2021, gave its approval for the purchase of 10 trainer aircraft and 83 Tejas Light Combat Aircraft fighter jets at the price of Rs. 45.7 crores. The Tejas LCA is an indigenously designed and manufactured fourth-generation fighter.

The Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh shared the news on his official Twitter handle and stated that LCA Tejas is going to be the backbone of IAF in years to come.

He added that the jet incorporates a large number of new technologies, many of which have never been attempted in India. The Union Minister also highlighted that the deal was a game-changer for self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector of India.

The LCA-Tejas programme would act as a catalyst for transforming the indian aerospace manufacturing ecosystem into a vibrant Atmanirbhar-self-sustaining ecosystem. I thank the Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi for this historic decision taken by the CCS today.

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) January 13, 2021

Significance:

The latest deal by the government will considerably expand the current Light Combat Aircraft- LAC ecosystem and will help in creating new job opportunities as well as bring change in the Indian aerospace manufacturing sector.

The fighter aircraft will also become a potent platform for meeting the operational requirement of the Indian Air Force.

The LCA-Tejas Programme will act as a catalyst to transform the Indian aerospace manufacturing sector into a vibrant Atmanirbhar- self-sustaining ecosystem.

About Tejas LCA:

The Tejas Mk-1A Light Combat Aircraft-LCA is an indigenously developed, designed, and manufactured fourth-generation fighter along with critical operational capabilities. It includes an Electronic Warfare Suite, Active Electronically-Scanned Array radar, and is also capable of air- to air refueling.

It is also the first BUY- Indian- Indigenously Designed, Developed, and Manufactured category procurement of the combat aircraft. As per the officials, it has an indigenous content of 50% that will be reaching 60% by end of the programme.

Cabinet approves infrastructure development for duty stations:

The Union Cabinet also gave its approval to the infrastructure development for enabling servicing and repairing of the aircraft at the duty stations. This move will reduce the turn around time for the mission-critical systems and will also lead to the increased availability of aircraft for the operations.