IAF will participate in a three-week multilateral air exercise at Waddington in the UK from March 6 with a fleet of five Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA).
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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's Tejas Light Combat Aircraft's second production line here on Tuesday, according to HAL officials.
The government has approved procurement of 83 indigenously-developed light combat aircraft 'Tejas' for the Indian Air Force
India's largest indigenous defence procurement deal is worth Rs 45,696 cr
India is also working on an ambitious $5 billion project to develop a fifth-generation medium weight deep penetration fighter jet to significantly bolster its air power capability.
Aerospace experts believe Malaysia will choose between three light fighters: Tejas, the South Korean FA-50 Golden Eagle and the Chinese-Pakistani JF-17 Thunder
Malaysia's switch to the Tejas fighter would be a second disappointment to Pakistan, after Sri Lanka earlier backed away from the JF-17 after first expressing interest
Tejas is a supersonic fourth generation fighter for induction in the Indian Air Force (IAF) fleet and its variant in the Indian Navy
Defence procurement policy requires preference for systems designed and built in India; yet, MoD and IAF permitted HAL to buy the system from Israeli firm Elta
The IAF had made the Meteor an essential pre-condition for ordering the fighter in large numbers
Tejas cost rises threefold from Rs 1.35 billion to Rs 4 billion per fighter
The official said a series of further tests to check landing and refuelling of the aircraft will be carried out in the next few months
The Mark-1A version of Tejas will have additional improvements over the earlier model, and is set to have mid-air refueling, updated internal Radar Warning Receiver and an AESA radar