New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved Wednesday the purchase of 73 Tejas LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) fighter jets and 10 trainer aircraft. The total cost of the two types of aircraft would approximately be Rs 45.7 crore. The Tejas LCA is an indigenously designed and manufactured fourth-generation fighter. The aircraft has critical operational capabilities including Active Electronically-Scanned Array (AESA) radar, an Electronic Warfare (EW) suite. The fighter jet is capable of air-to-air refueling (AAR).
“The LCA Tejas is going to be the backbone of the IAF fighter fleet in (the) years to come. LCA-Tejas incorporates a large number of new technologies, many of which were never attempted in India. So it will be an ideal aircraft for the IAF,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted Wednesday. He said that the decision to acquire the aircraft was a ‘game-changer for self-reliance in the Indian defence manufacturing (sector)’.
Rajnath Singh also said the deal would also ‘considerably expand the current LCA ecosystem. It would also help in creating new job opportunities’.
“The LCA-Tejas programme would act as a catalyst for transforming the Indian aerospace manufacturing ecosystem into a vibrant Atmanirbhar-self-sustaining ecosystem,” he wrote.
The Centre issued a statement Wednesday evening. It said the 73 Tejas LCA fighter aircraft would become ‘a potent platform to meet the operational requirements of the Indian Air Force’.
“It is the first ‘BUY (Indian-Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)’ category procurement of combat aircraft (with an indigenous content of 50 per cent that will reach 60 per cent by the end of the programme),” the government statement said.