India Plans to Produce Nearly 100 Combat Aircraft From Its Own Factory
19:49 07.11.2016(updated 19:57 07.11.2016)
India is currently planning to induct a large number of foreign made fighters to shore up its depleting squadron strength. But at the same time, it is going ahead with plans to induct aircraft produced in its own factories.
NEW DELHI (Sputnik) – India seems to be signaling to the world its intention to reduce dependency on directly imported combat planes. A high level defence acquisition committee in the Ministry of Defence has cleared the procurement of 83 light combat aircraft (LCA) put together by the domestic manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
The Tejas MK 1A LCA will cost approximately USD 7.55 billion, sources in the defense ministry said. This estimate includes two simulators and aircraft ancillary equipment.
The Tejas MK1A is stated to be an 4.5 generation aircraft equipped with Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA), an updated internal Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) and mid-air refueling capability.
India had already refused Swedish firm SAAB's offer to co-develop Tejas MK1A.
India had formed its first Tejas LCA squadron earlier this year with two LCA Initial Operational Configuration (IOC) Series Production Aircraft.
© Sputnik
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