India Procures 83 ‘Tejas’ Fighter Jets For This Much Amount Of Money
The union cabinet gives a nod to 73 Tejas Mk-1A LAC fighter aircraft and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 trainer aircraft. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared the deal within a little ₹48,000 crore. Amidst the stand-off with China and never-ending tension with Pakistan Tejas is going to add to the nerve of the Indian Air Force (IAF). The government, in a statement, said LCA fighter aircraft would become “a potent platform to meet the operational requirements of the Indian Air Force”.
The Tejas Mk-1A multirole fighter is designed by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) under DRDO with the manufacturing handed over to the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Defence Minister Rajnath Singh took it to Twitter describing it as the “largest indigenous defence procurement deal”. He added, “Tejas will be a game-changer for self-reliance in the Indian defence manufacturing”.
Incorporating several advanced technologies, that has never been attempted in India before, “LCA-Tejas is going to be the backbone of the IAF fighter fleet in years to come”, said the Defence Minister. Being thankful to the Prime Minister for this “historic decision” Singh said, Prime Minister for the “historic decision”, Singh said the “LCA-Tejas programme would act as a catalyst for transforming the Indian aerospace manufacturing ecosystem into a vibrant Atmanirbhar-self-
Facts about HAL Tejas LCA fighter jets
· Tejas LAC supersonic fighter is India’s first indigenous fighter jet.
· The fighter jet is single-engined, single-seater, lightweight,
· It is the fourth-generation multirole light fighter.
· Tejas took the maiden flight in January 2001 and had gone through 4,599 test flights up to speeds of Mach 1.4 before getting the clearance from Defence Acquisition Council (DAC).
· It has quadruplex digital fly-by-wire Flight Control System (FCS).
· The aircraft is designed for ‘air combat’ and ‘offensive air support’ by delta wing in its structure. Reconnaissance and anti-ship being its secondary roles.
· This fully-weaponised fighter aircraft is equipped with all the crucial components with the effectiveness of operations such as Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles, Electronic Warfare (EW) suite and competence of air-to-air refuelling (AAR).
· Tejas LAC can operate in its Radius of Action of 300 km.
· Being a lightweight aircraft with short-range, Tejas LAC can carry the same line up of modern weapons which bigger warplanes haul. It is also equipped with precision-guided and standoff weaponry. Enemy planes can be shot down from an intact distance with the help of “Beyond visual range” missiles.
· Along with manufacturing, the design and development of infrastructure cost worth ₹1,202 crores. The jets will be manufactured HAL’s second line facilities at its Bengaluru and Nasik divisions for Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.
· The naval prototype of Tejas is in the development stage. In January 2020, it successfully concluded the test flight on Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.
The military aviation regulator gave the initial operational clearance (IOC) to Tejas LCA jet in 2013 and drafted it into the IAF’s 45 Squadron in July 2016 to formulate it for combat readiness. The Air Force initiated its second squadron of home-grown Tejas fighter aircraft, appointing them to its 18 Squadron, the ‘Flying Bullets’, based at Sulur in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The squadron was arrayed with fourth-generation Tejas Mk-1A LAC fighter aircraft.
The final operational clearance (FOC) aircraft of Tejas got a number of additional capabilities in comparison to the initial operational clearance (IOC) aircraft. The primary aircraft being more avant-garde missile capability having significantly enhanced range.