India's HAL begin talks with Egypt and Argentina for Tejas aircraft contract

Bengaluru, Feb 20: In a significant development, Argentina and Egypt are in talks for possible sale of the India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) LCA Tejas which has been developed under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative of the Indian government.

 

This came after Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) chairman CB Ananthakrishnan, on the side lines of the ongoing Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru, said Egypt has communicated to India that it needs 20 LCA Tejas aircraft while Argentina has a requirement for 15 of the indigenously developed fighter jets.

 

The HAL chairman also informed that Egypt wants to have an MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facility with India regarding the LCA Tejas. India also wants to support Egypt in order to build the aerospace ecosystem. "Two teams from the Argentine Air Force have visited HAL and have flown the Tejas LCA," he informed.

 

The Egyptian delegation has reportedly conveyed an interest on acquiring Indian defence platforms during a dialogue between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. The defence co-operation between India and Egypt have seen an upswing over the last several years.

 

In July last year, the IAF participated in a month-long tactical leadership programme in Egypt with three Su-30 MKI jets and two C-17 transport aircraft. In September, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had paid a three-day visit to Egypt. India is keen to expand ties with Egypt, a key player in the politics of both the Arab world as well as Africa. Egypt is also regarded as a key gateway to markets in Africa and Europe.

 

Apart from Egypt, several other nations have also shown interest in buying the LCA Tejas. These include the US, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Malaysia had initially shown interest in buying procuring at least 18 LCA Tejas fighter jets in order to replace its ageing fleet of Russian MiG-29 planes.

 

 

Manufactured by HAL as part of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ or ‘Make in India’ initiative of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the LCA Tejas is a single-engine multi-role fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments.

 

The defence ministry had entered into a contract with HAL worth Rs 48,000 crore for the procurement of 83 Tejas light combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IF) in February 2021. Talking about the LAC Mark II of the LCA Tejas, the HAL Chairman said that HAL hopes to roll out the upgraded version of the aircraft in December 2024.