Bengaluru: The government on Wednesday formally sealed the Rs 48,000 crore deal to procure 83 Tejas LCA from state-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, a deal described by the government as the 'biggest' Make in India defence contract.
The contract was handed over by Director General (Acquisition), Ministry of Defence, VL Kantha Rao to CMD of HAL, R Madhavan, at the inaugural ceremony of Aero India-2021, the country's premier Defence and Aerospace show, here, in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. "I am very happy that HAL has got the orders for development of 83 new indigenous LCA (light combat aircraft) Tejas MK1A from Indian Air Force valued at more than Rs 48,000 crore." "It is probably the biggest Make in India Defence contract till date," Singh said.
Ready to defeat misadventure on border: Rajnath
India is vigilant in the face of attempts to change status quo at its border and prepared to defeat any misadventures to defend its territorial integrity, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday, amid the continued military standoff with China. "We have long witnessed unfortunate attempts to employ force to change the status quo at our unresolved borders", he said at the inaugural ceremony of Aero India-2021, the country's premier Defence and aerospace show, at Yelahanka Air Force Station here. "India is vigilant and prepared to counter and defeat any misadventures to defend our people and territorial integrity at all costs," the Minister asserted, adding, India plans to spend $130 billion on Defence modernisation in the next 7-8 years with the focus on domestic manufacturing of bigger and complex platforms.
Foreign fighters skip show
Barring Rafale of Dassault, fighters of other global aerospace majors such as F-21 of Lockheed, F/A-18 Super Hornet of Boeing, MiG-35 of MiG, Gripe of Saab and Typhoon of Eurofighter are conspicuously absent at the 13th edition of the biennial Aero India 2021 that took off under the shadow of the Covid pandemic.
