DD India

The defence ministry’s Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Thursday cleared the proposal for acquiring 97 Light Combat Aircraft Mark 1A fighter jets for the Indian Air Force at a cost of around Rs 65,000 crore. A proposal for buying 156 LCH Prachand choppers has also been approved by the DAC.

The upgrade plan of 84 Su-30MKI fighters has also been cleared at a meeting of DAC held yesterday.

These proposals are worth Rs 1.6 lakh crore and are indigenous projects, defence officials said.

The first version of the Tejas LCA aircraft was inducted into the IAF in 2016. Currently, two squadrons of IAF are fully operational with LCA Tejas. Tejas will be the largest fleet of fighter aircraft to be operated by the Indian Air Force in the coming years.

An order worth Rs 36,468 crore for delivery of 83 LCA Mk 1A aircraft has been placed with HAL and delivery is scheduled to begin by February 2024, a recent Ministry of Defence statement said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week undertook a sortie on the Tejas Twin Seat Light Combat Fighter aircraft. Sharing on his social media X, the prime minister stated, “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,” he said.

(ANI)