IAF ordering 83 Tejas LCA jets hailed by Gen Bipin Rawat; CDS states 'ultimate objective'

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS ) General Bipin Rawat said on Thursday that government's approval of deal to procure 83 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas fighter jets is a boost for Centre's 'Make in India' initiative and that ultimate objective is to reach a st where country can win conflicts with home-me weapon systems, after government approved said deal for Indian Air Force on Wednesday. 

Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved largest indigeus defense procurement deal worth nearly Rs 48,000 crore to buy LCA-Tejas fighter jets. It is expected that long-touted deal would be a major boost for IAF and help it to arrest decline in numbers of its fighter aircraft squrons.

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"Our ultimate objective is to eng in and win future conflicts with home-me solutions. Our focus will remain on indigenization and efforts to progressively support Aatmanirbhar Bharat is our mission. We hope to see our Air Force touch sky with glory with aircraft that has major components including engines that are Me in India," Gen Bipin Rawat said.

He ded, "This deal will be a game-changer for self-reliance in Indian defense manufacturing," Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted to anunce final approval given to mega-deal.

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Centre approves  procurement of 83 LCA Tejas fighter jets

On 13 January, Cabinet met under Chairmanship of Prime Minister in New Delhi and approved procurement of 73 LCA Tejas Mk-1A fighter aircraft and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 Trainer aircraft along with Design and Development of Infrastructure sanctions worth Rs.1,202 Crore.

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Light Combat Aircraft Mk-1A variant is an indigeusly designed, developed, and manufactured state-of--art modern 4+ generation fighter aircraft. This aircraft is equipped with critical operational capabilities of Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Rar, Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Missile, Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite and Air to Air Refuelling (AAR) would be a potent platform to meet operational requirements of Indian Air Force, IAF. It is first “Buy (Indian-Indigeusly Designed, Developed and Manufactured)” category procurement of combat aircraft with an indigeus content of 50% which will progressively reach 60% by end of program. order is a major achievement in history of India's defence production and has massive potential and ramifications for future.

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(With ANI Inputs)