Made-in-India Tejas get a boost? India becomes a top candidate for Malaysian fighter jet order

New Delhi, June 23: In a major development, it is being reported that India has come out as top candidate for fulfilling the requirements of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) to Malaysia. The deal will also include maintenance and spares for the nation’s Russian-origin Su 30 fighter jets.

 

 

It should be noted that the Malaysian air force is looking to buy 18 new light fighter jets. In order to fulfill the needs of Malaysia, India is offering an appealing package for LCA Tejas for this deal. It has committed that it can provide Malaysia’s fleet of 18 Su 30 MKM jets flightworthy, given the vast spares reserve and technical expertise available with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the report from Economic Times noted.

 

The Tejas is an indigenously developed, single-engine, fourth-generation, high-agility, multirole, supersonic light combat aircraft. The report suggest that the reason why India is the top candidate is because the other candidates - primarily South Korea and China - do not have backend contracts with Russian manufacturers to work on the Sukhoi fighters, it said.

 

India has priced LCA Tejas at around $42 million per unit for the package. It is to be noted that the Indian government has set an annual export target of $5 billion, or Rs 36,500 crore by 2025.

 

 

The value of defence exports by India has grown approximately by six times since 2014, with the ongoing financial year registering Rs 11,607 crore till 21 March, according to Union Minister of State in Ministry of Defence Ajay Bhatt.

 

Apart from that, Philippines' Defence Ministry signed a $374 million contract with the BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd (BAPL) for the supply of Shore Based Anti-Ship Missile System to the Philippines, the Ministry of Defence said. Such developments comes on the backdrop of the government's push for Make in India in defense and its stress on Aatmanirbhar Bharat - meaning self-reliant India program.