The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has sealed a major deal with American defence major GE Aerospace to procure 113 jet engines for its Tejas light combat aircraft programme.

The firming up of the deal has come notwithstanding a downturn in India-US relations after the Trump administration slapped a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods.

Under the deal, the delivery of the F404-GE-IN20 engines will begin from 2027 and the supplies will have to be completed by 2032, officials said.

The size of the deal is learnt to be close to US$ 1 billion (approximately Rs 8,870 crore). 

The HAL said it has entered into an agreement with General Electric Company to acquire the engines and support package for execution of 97 Light Combat Aircraft Mk1A programme.

The Indian Defence Ministry in September had sealed a Rs 62,370 crore deal with HAL to procure 97 Tejas MK-1A light combat aircraft (LCA) for the Indian Air Force.

Tejas is a single-engine multi-role fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments.

It has been designed to undertake the air defence, maritime reconnaissance and strike roles.

The HAL is also using GE F404-“IN20 engines to power another lot of LCA MK1A jets.

In February 2021, the Defence Ministry had sealed a Rs 48,000 crore deal with HAL for the procurement of 83 Tejas Mk-1A jets for the IAF.

The delivery of the jets are facing delays primarily due to GE Aerospace missing several deadlines for supply of its aero engines to power the jets.

The IAF is looking at inducting the warplanes as the number of its fighter squadrons have gone down to 31 from officially sanctioned strength of 42.