IAF to order 83 Tejas fighter jets in local manufacturing push
NEW DELHI : The Indian Air Force will award a ₹48,000 crore order to state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) for 83 light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas in a major push for the local manufacture of cutting-edge military hardware.
The order was cleared by the Union cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month.
Ahead of the formal contract signing ceremony, defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday opened HAL’s second LCA plant in Bengaluru, which will double production capacity of the Tejas to 16 aircraft a year. The indigenously-developed LCA is being billed as the “backbone” of the air force’s fighter fleet in the years to come.
