India to acquire 200 fighter jets for Air Force: Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar

Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar has said, the government is in the process of acquiring around 200 aircraft to cope with the depleting aerial inventories of the Indian Air Force. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of commissioning Indian Coast Guard vessels in Kolkata yesterday, he said, the contract for HAL-manufactured 83 LCA Tejas Mark 1 A advanced fighter jets are in the final stages.

Mr Kumar said, apart from these, Expression of Interest has been floated for another 110 aircraft,



based on which Request for Proposal will be floated. He said that roughly for 200 aircraft, the acquisition is in process.

The Air Force has Sukhoi 30 MKIs, Mirage 2000s, Mig 29s and the ageing Jaguars and Mig 21 Bisons in its inventory of fighter jets at present.

The last fleet of seven swing-wing MiG-27 fighters, which played an important role during the 1999 Kargil war, was decommissioned on December 27.