New Delhi: Indigenously designed and manufactured light combat aircraft Tejas has been inducted into the Service. The government on Monday informed the Rajya Sabha that the total cost of these jets is more than Rs 6,000 crore and the IAF plans to have a total of 123 TEJAS in the coming years.
The Tejas received the initial operational clearance in December 2013, and the IAF acquired the first aircraft with final operational clearance in 2019. On January 13, 2021, the Cabinet Committee on Security approved a Rs 47,000-crore procurement for 83 Tejas LCAs, including 73 Mark 1A versions, giving a push to the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.
Tejas will be manufactured by the public sector aerospace conglomerate Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
On the modernization plans, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt informed that the TEJAS is not being inducted as a replacement of MIG-21 fighter aircraft, but as a part of a modernization of IAF. Amount spent so far on the manufacture of 24 TEJAS delivered till 30.09.2021 is Rs 6,653 crore.
Further production depends upon the requirement for Defence forces and exports, the minister added.
The CCS nod earlier this year was for procurement of 73 TEJAS MK-1A fighter aircraft and 10 TEJAS MK-1 trainer aircraft at the cost of Rs 45,696 crore along with the design and development of infrastructure sanctions worth Rs 1,202 Crore.
On the Tejas, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said “This deal would be a game-changer for self-reliance in the Indian defence manufacturing.” The first TEJAS MK-1A is expected to roll out from 2023-24 onwards, from which the HAL plans to ramp up the production rate to 16 aircraft a year.
(_Vinayak)
