India wants to make 470 fighter jets. The first one, called the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mark-1A, will be put into service in February of next year. The huge project has already started.
The Indian Air Force will get 370 of the jets, while the Navy will get 100 jets with two engines.
These 470 jets are different from the 114 jets that the IAF wants to make in India with a partner from another country.
HAL, which stands for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, is making 83 Tejas Mark-1A jets.
The Chairman and Managing Director of HAL, CB Ananthakrishnan, said, “We are on track to deliver the first jet in February 2024. The amount of jets that can be made has been increased, and all 83 of them will be delivered ahead of schedule.
“There are no more delays. We have a good supply chain and enough delivery space,” he said.
The project includes 83 Tejas Mark-1A jets, 108 Tejas Mark-2 jets, 126 advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA) jets, and 100 twin-engine deck-based fighters for the Navy.
HAL thinks that an extra order of Tejas Mark-1A will make up for the time between making Tejas Mark-1A and Tejas Mark-2. Sources said that there could be about 50 more Tejas Mark-1A jets.
All of this together comes to about 470.
After the Tejas Mark-1A, all jets will use the General Electric 414 engine, which has a thrust of 98 kilonewtons.
The Aeronautics Development Agency (ADA), a lab of the Defense Research and Development Organisation, is in charge of the programme (DRDO).
“LCA Mark-2 development will be finished next year,” said Dr. Girish S. Deodhare, who is the head of the ADA.
The HAL is sure that the LCA Mark-2, which will have more powerful engines and many other improvements over the Tejas, will be made on time and will take its first flight in the middle of 2025. The AMCA had goals set by the ADA DG. “We’re waiting for the Cabinet Committee on Security to say yes. He said, “The design is in a very important stage.”
-
-
-
-
