Article Posted on : - Feb 29, 2016

Indian Air Force's indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft 'Tejas'

NEW DELHI (PTI): Indian Air Force will induct three to four indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft 'Tejas' this year and a total of eight squadrons in eight years, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said.

He told the Lok Sabha on Friday that a Letter of Intent for procuring 120 Tejas was issued and the first aircraft was inducted by the IAF in 2015 and three to four would be inducted this year.

"Letter of Intent has been issued for 120 LCA. The first aircraft was given during 2015. The next three to four, to form the squadron, will be delivered during current year.

"We are also in the process of approving the second line of manufacturing to the HAL so that they can produce 16 aircraft per year. In the next eight years, you will have about eight squadrons of LCA," he said during Question Hour.

Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is the nodal organisation for the development of 'Tejas'.

Parrikar said India has been importing 15 per cent of the global arms imports which has now come down to 14 per cent.

India's arms import bill has also come down from around Rs 35,000 crore to Rs 24,900 crore now, he said.

The Defence Minister said Indian defence industries, ordnance factories and shipyards have been functioning in full capacity and the orders received by them have increased substantially over the years.

They have orders to the tune of Rs 1,60,000 crore and they would not be able to complete all orders even in the next ten years, he said, adding that these orders were indigenous, mostly from the government, and just two per cent orders from abroad.

Replying to another question, Parrikar refuted a suggestion that India's budget allocation for defence sector was low in comparison to countries like the US, China and Pakistan, saying the pensions of defence personnel was not part of the defence budget.

He said modernisation of the armed forces was a continuous process based on threat perception, operational challenges and technological changes to keep the armed forces in a state of readiness to meet the entire spectrum of security challenges.

"Government attaches the highest priority to ensuring that the armed forces are sufficiently equipped to meet any operational requirement. This is achieved through induction of new equipment and technological upgradation of capabilities," he said.