HAL to incorporate latest technology jets
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has cleared acquisition of 83 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk1A aircraft with enhanced capabilities, Minister of State for Defence, Dr Subhash Bhamre said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha on 6 Aug 2018.
The LCA Mk1A will have Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Missile, Self-Protection Jammer (SPJ) and Air-to-Air Refuelling (AAR) for which quotation has been submitted by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
HAL leads in delivering fighter jets to the Indian Air Force (IAF) and has been working on orders since 2006.
It has IAF order for 40 aircrafts {20 Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) standard and 20 Final Operational Clearance (FOC) standard}.
Twenty IOC contract was signed on 31 March 2006 to be completed by December 2011 and 20 FOC contract was signed on 23 December 2010 to be completed by 2016.
IOC for LCA Tejas was received in December 2013.
The value of IOC contract for 20 No. Tejas aircrafts was Rs.2701.70 crores which was revised to Rs.2812.91 crores.
Amendment in IOC contract has been sought for Rs.5362.17 crores as part of Change Order on account of changes in build standards for Integration entailing procurement of additional Line Replaceable Units (LRUs), Raw materials, composite materials, Bought out items and consumables, tooling etc.
The value of FOC contract for 20 Tejas aircrafts is Rs.5989.39 Crores.
Out of total 20 IOC aircrafts, 9 aircrafts have been delivered by HAL to IAF till date. fiinews.com
