To enable this Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
is in the process of setting up a new assembly line.
If the present development and capacity enhancement plans go as
per schedule, the Indian Air Force will have 123 indigenous Light Combat
Aircraft (LCA) Tejas fighter jets in its fleet by 2024-25.
To enable this Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is in the
process of setting up a new assembly line and is also involving the private
sector in a big way, said the Chief Managing Director (CMD) of the public
sector aerospace major T. Suvarna Raju in a conversation with The Hindu.
The IAF has placed orders for 40 jets in two batches of which
the first 20 are in the Initial Operational Configuration (IOC) while the
remaining 20 are in the Final Operational Configuration (FOC). Last July the
IAF for operationalised the first Tejas squadron ‘45 flying daggers’ with three
aircraft. Two more aircraft will join the squadron shortly.
Last November the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) had given
initial clearance for 83 aircraft in the Mk-1A configuration with specific
improvements sought by the IAF.
Mr. Raju said that about 45 improvements have been implemented
in the 1A and HAL has already floated a tender for the Advanced Electronically
Scanned Array (AESA) radar and Self-Protection Jammer (SPJ).
On the timeline for the development of the 1A, Mr. Raju said
that the tender would be opened by March end after which technical evaluation
and commercial negotiations would be held. “We will be able to prove it on the
1A by 2018 and start producing by 2019,” he observed.
Apart from the development, the induction is also delayed by the
low production rate of eight aircraft per year. The government has recently
given sanction for setting another assembly to increase production rate to 16
per year.
“The IAF will get Mk-1A in 2019 by that time our capacity will
also go up to 16 aircraft per year,” Mr. Raju added.
To increase the production of the aircraft HAL has outsourced
major parts of the jet. “We are trying to be an integrator rather than a
manufacturer, he said.
The IAF is in urgent need of new fighters and the LCAs will
replace the Mig fighters that are currently being phased out. IAF is scheduled
to phase out all 11 squadrons of Mig-21 and Mig-27 fighters by 2024 on
completion of their technical life.
On the issue of spares and supports which has been an area of
constant concern from the services, Mr. Raju said they have now signed long
term supply contracts with their vendors and stated that the availability of
all platforms manufactured by HAL has now gone “above 65 percent.”
Source :- The Hindu
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