HAL’s New Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Division

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a new plant for Light Combat Aircraft at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bengaluru. This inauguration of a new plant will double the production of India’s indigenous fighter jet – LCA Tejas.

Key Points

• HAL has got an order of Rs 48,000-cr order from the armed forces. This is the biggest indigenous defence procurement and will give a new boost to the Indian aerospace sector.
• Tejas is better than its foreign equivalent on various parameters. The best advantage is that it is indigenous and cheaper as compared to its foreign variants.
• The minister highlighted that India will be reaching its target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore in defence manufacturing in few years.
• This newly inaugurated LCA Tejas production plant of HAL is spread over an area of 35 acres.
• This plant will double the production of LCA Tejas to 16 aircraft per year to complete the Air Force order of 83 jets.
• The project will include many public and private sector players and create an estimated 5,000 primary jobs in the private sector.
• This production line of HAL will also generate employment for 500-600 people.

This is the first time that Indian private players are coming together to produce aircraft wings and fuselage. New technologies to be featured in the LCA Tejas are Mission Computer-Controlled Avionics and Digital Fly-By-Wire.