Air Force to purchase 100 additional India-made Tejas Mk-1A fighter jets

The Indian Air Force (IAF) will place orders for around 100 additional Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mark-1A fighter jets from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), senior defence officials informed India Today.

The decision, which is expected to boost the indigenous aerospace industry, to buy 100 more Tejas Mark-1A fighter aircraft is taken to replace the ageing fleet of the MiG-21 fighter aircraft.

The officials further added that the proposals for the projects have been submitted to the Defence Ministry and clearance for the order is expected in the near future.

As many as 300 Tejas Mark-1A fighter jets are going to be inducted into the Indian Air Force in the next few years.

Tejas Mark-1A is an indigenously designed,



developed and manufactured modern 4-plus generation fighter aircraft with more than 65 per cent indigenous components.

With an indigenously developed Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Missile, modern Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite and Air-to-Air Refuelling (AAR) capabilities, Tejas MK 1 A is expected to meet the operational requirements of the IAF.

Recently, IAF chief VR Chaudhari also reviewed the development project of the Tejas Mark-1A with all stakeholders and brought out that the aircraft has been the flag bearer of the IAF's efforts towards indigenisation of its aircraft fleet.

Earlier in 2021, the IAF contracted with HAL for the delivery of 73 LCA Tejas Mark-1A fighter aircraft and 10 LCA Tejas Mark-1 aircraft.