NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — India seems to be signaling to the world its intention to reduce dependency on directly imported combat planes. A high level defence acquisition committee in the Ministry of Defence has cleared the procurement of 83 light combat aircraft (LCA) put together by the domestic manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
The Tejas MK 1A LCA will cost approximately USD 7.55 billion, sources in the defense ministry said. This estimate includes two simulators and aircraft ancillary equipment.
Today's decision by Defence Acquisition Council on 83 LCA Mk1As should shut up all those despairing over reports about India abandoning LCA!
— Nitin A. Gokhale (@nitingokhale) 7 ноября 2016 г.
The Tejas MK1A is stated to be an 4.5 generation aircraft equipped with Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA), an updated internal Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) and mid-air refueling capability.
India had already refused Swedish firm SAAB’s offer to co-develop Tejas MK1A.
India had formed its first Tejas LCA squadron earlier this year with two LCA Initial Operational Configuration (IOC) Series Production Aircraft.
