The Aircraft Deal

The purchase of 97 Tejas aircraft and 156 Prachanda helicopters was approved by the Defence Acquisions Council (DAC) on November 30, according to sources who spoke to CNBC Awaaz. The deal was for a staggering Rs 1.40 lakh crore.

The development coincides with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s scheduled important meeting. This project, which is expected to cost about Rs 55,000 crore, is intended to add to the 83 Tejas jets that are now in service.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has already received an order from the IAF for 83 LCA Mk 1A aircraft, valued at Rs 45,696 crore. By February 2024, the deliveries is expected to start.

HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) is able to produce eight LCA aircraft annually. By 2025, this will rise to 16 aircraft annually, and in the following three years, it will reach 24 aircraft.

In the meantime, during late trading hours on the BSE, shares of HAL and Cochin Shipyard were up 3.68 percent at Rs 2,430 and 2.71 percent at Rs 1,195.65, respectively.

The Aircraft orders

The first batch of forty LCA Tejas, which the IAF had previously bought from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., Bengaluru, for Rs 8,802 crore, will have forty-three “improvements” in the Mark-1A version. The IAF is expected to receive the last seven of these aircraft, which are all twin-seater training models, sometime in the upcoming year.

Of the 36 aircraft ordered in the initial lot, 33 have been delivered thus far. In 2016, the LCA was introduced by the IAF. In addition, the state-owned aviation firm claims that the first prototype of the HAL-developed Mark-2 variant of the indigenous fighter jet should be completed by 2025.

“The development of LCA Mk 2, an upgraded and more deadly version of LCA Tejas, has been sanctioned for more than Rs 9,000 crore,” an official stated. Aims are also being made to establish LCA sites in the western theater, because the two current units, 18 and 45 Squadrons, are stationed in Sulur, Tamil Nadu.

A Transfer of Technology deal has been negotiated with GE for the manufacturing of the GE engine in India during the Prime Minister’s visit to the US in June 2023, in an effort to further boost indigenization, including that of the aviation engine.

Tejas, which would replace the MiGs as the largest fleet of fighter aircraft operated by the Indian armed forces, will come in numerous versions for the IAF and Indian Navy (a naval version of the LCA is also in the works).

PM Modi’s recent Sortie

On Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi departs from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) facility in Bengaluru in the Tejas aircraft. The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi successfully completed a sortie on IAF’s multirole fighter jet Tejas.

Successfully completed a sortie on the Tejas. The experience was incredibly enriching, significantly bolstering my confidence in our country's indigenous capabilities, and leaving me with a renewed sense of pride and optimism about our national potential. pic.twitter.com/4aO6Wf9XYO

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 25, 2023

The French Rafale planes would be flown by the new carrier, which can accommodate at least 28 fighter jets and helicopters and displaces 45,000 tons of water, a metric of ship size, Bloomberg has previously reported quoting sources.

Cochin Shipyard Ltd. produced INS Vikrant, India’s first homegrown carrier, which was added to the fleet last year. The nation also owns an aircraft carrier built in Russia.

The report further stated that India intends to spend an estimated Rs 2 lakh crore to acquire 160 warships by 2030 and 175 by 2035. It further stated that the Indian Navy presently has around 60 ships in various states of construction. In response to growing fears over China’s growing naval might, the nation is conducting more warship patrols than it has in the past.

Additionally, India has improved the Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ runway infrastructure, enabling nighttime aircraft landings. This is an attempt to monitor the southern Indian Ocean’s narrow waterways more closely, specifically those of Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok. India and its allies use the network of islands for maritime surveillance.