India is in talks with Egypt and Argentina for the possible sale of the indigenously-built Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) to their air forces as the country sharpens its focus on getting a toehold in foreign markets and boosting its defence exports, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) chairman CB Ananthakrishnan said at Aero India-2023 on Tuesday.
Egypt has projected a requirement for 20 aircraft while the South American country needs 15 new fighters, he said.
“Egypt has also shown interest in creating a local aerospace ecosystem. We will help facilitate that. Two teams from the Argentine Air Force have visited HAL and flown the LCA,” said Ananthakrishnan.
HAL has offered the LCA Mk-1A variant to the two countries.
Inaugurating the biennial Aero India airshow on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi counted LCA among the locally built weapon systems that have led to a transformation in the defence sector during the last eight to nine years.
Ananthakrishnan said HAL may have been edged out by a Korean aircraft maker in a contest to sell new fighter jets to Malaysia.
Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari on Monday flew the LCA during the inaugural display at the Yelahanka airbase as India is aggressively looking at tapping the aircraft’s export potential.
The air force also plans to induct its newer versions in the coming years to boost its combat strength.
While the LCA project is on track now, several HAL programmes have been hit by delays and forced the armed forces to look for alternatives. These include the basic trainer aircraft, intermediate jet trainer, and the LCA project.
IAF raised its first LCA squadron with two aircraft in July 2016 even though the project was sanctioned in 1983 as a replacement for the Soviet-origin MiG-21 fleet.
It has inducted several of 40 earlier variants of LCA, ordered 83 improved Mk-1A variants in 2021, and is now looking at ordering the newest variant of the aircraft, LCA Mk-2.
At Aero India-2021, the defence ministry awarded a ₹48,000-crore contract to HAL for 83 LCA Mk-1A jets for IAF. The first Mk-1A aircraft will be delivered to the air force in February 2024. The rest are slated to join its combat fleet by 2029, HAL officials said.
“We hope to roll out the first LCA Mk-2 aircraft in December 2024 and fly it the following year,” the HAL chairman said. IAF is likely to order 108 Mk-2 aircraft (six squadrons).
The government last year gave its nod to developing the LCA Mk-2, a platform that will form an important element of future air combat.
LCA Mk-2, the most advanced warplane set to be built in India, will come with enhanced survivability, better situational awareness for pilots, high payload capacity, improved range, network-centric capabilities, integrated avionics, and an ability to quickly switch from one role to another.
India has set a target of achieving defence exports worth $5 billion by 2025. In November 2022, Indian defence firm Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited won an export order worth $155.5 million for supplying artillery guns to a friendly foreign country. It was the first order won by a local company for the 155mm weapon system.
The order came on the back of the Philippines ordering BrahMos missiles and Armenia choosing to buy Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers from India.
HAL is also looking at exporting the advanced light helicopter to the Philippines, the officials said. In December 2020, the Union Cabinet gave its go-ahead to the sale of Akash missile systems to friendly foreign countries. It also created a high-powered panel for swifter approvals to export military hardware.
The focus on boosting exports comes along with a renewed thrust on indigenisation of weapons and systems.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday indicated that India could bring more weapons and systems under an import ban, and manufacture them in the country to give a new push to self-reliance in the defence sector.
The latest ‘positive indigenisation list’ was set to come on the back of four similar lists that have barred the import of 411 military items during the last 30 months.
