The Ministry of Defence Thursday signed a Rs 62,370-crore deal with the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) for the procurement of 97 Mk1A Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) for the Air Force. The order comprises 68 fighters and 29 twin-seaters, along with associated equipment. In a statement, the Defence Ministry said the delivery of these aircraft would begin during 2027-28 and be completed over a period of six years. The signing of the contract comes a month after the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had cleared this procurement. The deal marks the additional order for the LCA Tejas Mk 1 A. The government in 2021 signed a Rs 48,000-crore deal with HAL to procure 83 LCA MK 1 A jets. The deliveries of these jets are yet to begin and have been delayed for over a year-and-a-half. While the deliveries of the two aircraft are slated to take place in October, it is yet to be finalised. The reasons for the delay were a delay in the delivery of the GE F404 engine from the US defence major GE Aerospace, and also in weapons and radar integration into the aircraft. According to the Defence Ministry, the aircraft will have an indigenous content of over 64 percent with 67 additional items incorporated, over and above the previous LCA Mk1A contract signed in January 2021. The integration of advanced indigenously developed systems such as the UTTAM Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, Swayam Raksha Kavach, and control surface actuators will further strengthen the Atmanirbharta initiatives, the ministry said. “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, giving a major boost to the domestic aerospace ecosystem,” the statement said. It said that the acquisition, under the ‘Buy (India-IDDM)’ category of Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020, is in line with the government’s thrust on indigenisation. “The LCA Mk1A is the most advanced variant of the indigenously designed and manufactured fighter aircraft and will serve as a potent platform to meet the operational requirements of the IAF,” it said.
