India on Thursday accorded an initial approval to procure an additional batch of 97 Tejas mark 1A Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and 156 Prachand helicopters to boost the overall combat capability of the armed forces, official sources said.
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also cleared a proposal of the Indian Air Force to upgrade its 84 Su-30MKI fighter fleet, the sources said.
It is learnt that mega procurement projects and the Su-30 upgrade programme are expected to cost the exchequer ₹1.3 lakh crore.
The defence ministry is expected to provide the details of the projects cleared by the DAC soon.
“Today, the Defence Ministry has cleared the proposal for the acquisition of 97 LCA mark 1A fighter jets for the Indian Air Force at a cost of around ₹65,000 crores.
"Proposal for buying 156 LCH Prachand choppers have also been approved by the Defence Acquisition Council along with the upgrade plan of 84 Su-30MKI fighters has also been cleared: these proposals are worth ₹1.6 lakh crore and are indigenous projects,” defence officials were quoted as saying by ANI.
