Rajnath Singh inaugurates second LCA’s Tejas plant in Bengaluru

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s second LCA-Tejas production plant in Bengaluru, Karnataka. At the inauguration event, he said India needs to become more independent in terms of defence than being dependent on other countries and Tejas, which is indigenously developed is better than several foreign equivalents considering various parameters and at the same time cheaper.

He said, “HAL’s new LCA facility is an example of how ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ is shaping and HAL deserves the largest indigenous order of 83 LCA Mk-IA. LCA is the pride of India and sends the right message to others that India can make fighters of class in-house. The fighter is superior in many ways when compared to other fighters in its category besides being cost-effective.”

Rajnath Singh also applauded HAL for its work, saying, “The Company has a lot of talent and more orders should come in its way in future. We cannot depend on others on security issues and therefore will make HAL stronger, whatever it takes.”

Regarding the targets, Singh said, “Many countries have shown interest in Tejas. India will achieve the target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore in the field of defence manufacturing in (a) few years.”

The Tejas LCA will be delivered to the Indian Air Force under a formalized deal of Rs 48,000 crore, which will be initiated from March 2024, and as many as 16 aircraft will be given out on a yearly basis until the total supply of 83 jets has been completed, said R Madhavan, Chairman and Managing Director of HAL.

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