HAL chief Madhavan welcomes approval to Tejas deal; says it will boost domestic aerospace sector

Welcoming government's approval to Tejas deal, chief of state-run aero behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Limited R Mhavan on Wednesday described it as a major shot in arm towards India's goal of achieving self-reliance in aero and aeronautics sector.

Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved much-awaited deal worth Rs 48,000 crore to procure 83 indigeusly-developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas from HAL to boost Indian Air Force's combat prowess. Mhavan, chairman and managing director of HAL, said production rate of Tejas is being augmented from eight to 16 aircraft per year through creation of a new infrastructure in Bengaluru.

"Thanks to government, Tejas programme has received a major shot in arm in boosting Atamanirbhar (self-reliance) drive in aero and aeronautics," he said when asked about government's approval.

"Tejas would have highest level indigenisation in comparison to any programme of this scale with progressive indigenisation of critical techlogies," he said.

In a statement, Defence Ministry said government approved procurement of 73 LCA Tejas of Mk-1A variant and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 trainer aircraft. Tejas Mk-1A will be equipped with active electronically scanned array rar, beyond visual range missile, electronic warfare suite and air-to-air refuelling and would be a potent platform to meet operational requirements of IAF, officials said.

"Tejas program follows system integrator model and has created a national aero ecosystem with participation of approximately 560 companies from large to SMEs which encompass all facets of aircraft design and manufacturing," Mhavan said.

He said according to estimates Tejas programme will generate direct employment to 5,000 people across country. "Till date Tejas programme is estimated to have produced 50,000 primary and secondary jobs across nation. For first time in nation's aero history LCA-programme enabled partnership with Indian private players to manufacture aircraft fusel and wings," he said.

Around three years back, Indian Air Force h issued an initial tender for procurement of 83 Tejas aircraft, a four-and-half generation combat jet which is manufactured by State-run aero behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). IAF has alrey inducted a batch of Tejas aircraft as part of its initial order of 40 jets.

ministry said government has also approved infrastructure development by IAF under project to enable it to handle repairs and servicing at its base depots so that turnaround time of aircraft could be reduced and ir availability can be increased for "operational exploitation".

government has been majorly focusing on boosting domestic defence production and set a target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore (USD 25 billion) turver in defence manufacturing by 2025. According to estimates, Indian armed forces are projected to spend around USD 130 billion in capital procurement in next five years.

In May, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rolled out a number of reform measures for defence sector, including making separate budgetary outlay to procure Indian-me military hardware, increasing FDI limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent under automatic route and generating a year-wise negative list of weapons which won't be imported.