India's indigenous Light Combat Aircraft programme will witness a major leap as the the Indian Air Force will receive the first Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A later this month, enhancing the operational capabilities of the IAF and improving its aircraft strength.
According to media reports, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will witness the first flight of these fighter jets, designed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), on Friday (October 17) in Nashik.
The delivery of the fighter jet, as part of the Rs 48,000 contract signed in 2021 with the HAL for 83 aircraft, was supposed to begin in 2024. As per the contract, HAL was to deliver the first three aircraft in the third year and 16 aircraft per year for the subsequent five years.
However, as the engine deliveries from General Electric got delayed, the Bengaluru-headquartered aerospace and defence company was unable to begin the delivery of the jets to the IAF, which has been facing a critical shortage of fighter squadrons. The crisis deepened following the recent retirement of the MiG-21 jets.
The 4.5 generation multi-role fighter aircraft, capable of air defence, ground attack, and maritime strike missions, will be equipped with Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Missile, Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite and Air to Air Refuelling (AAR), and has an indegenous content over over 50 per cent.
