BENGALURU: India, which had, through defence PSU HAL pitched its Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas for the Royal Malaysian Air force (RMFA) has actually suffered a setback with Malaysia likely to choose South Korean supersonic fighter KAI FA-50.

HAL, which had submitted a proposal to the Malaysian ministry of defence for supply of 18 Fighter Lead-in Trainer (FLIT) LCAs against a worldwide tender released by RMAF in October 2021, was among eight nations to respond to RMFAs tender.

Tejas was later on amongst the two, the other being KIA FA-50, to be shortlisted by Malaysia.On Tuesday, HAL CMD CB Ananthakrishnan stated: ...

We were very enthusiastic of getting the contract from Malaysia considered that we were amongst the two shortlisted out of eight business that got involved.

There has been a small obstacle in the sense that it looks like the other business is getting the order.

We have actually not got anything in black-and-white (writing), what we are hearing now is that Malaysia might choose the Korean plane.

He added that regardless of the current advancements, HAL continues to make efforts.

Other than Tejas and KIA FA-50, the other aircraft that had actually been pegged as prospective competitors were the Sino-Pakistani JF-17, Italian M-346 and the Russian Yak-130 have actually been named as the potential competitors.

Sweetening the dealFurther sweetening the deal, HAL, as part of the offsets, also provided to set up an MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) complex, deal air travel management courses and regional manufacturing of aero structures with Malaysian entities aimed at allowing human capital advancement and enhance capabilities of Malaysian entities for other programs too.Indias extremely own LCA Tejas touches the sky with splendor with its air manoeuvresBeing one of the largest manufacturers of Russian-origin Su-30 airplane, HAL has even said it might extend assistance to RMAF for Su-30 MKM fleet which is dealing with low serviceability problems due to the continuous Russia-Ukraine crisis.

In fact, HAL was so positive after Tejas was shortlisted that it even announced plans to establish an office in the countrys capital-- Kuala Lumpur (KL)-- on August 17, 2022.

Upbeat about the offer at the time, HAL was hoping the office would assist tap brand-new business opportunities for FLIT LCA and other requirements of the RMAF like Su-30 MKM and Hawk upgrades.

The workplace is yet to be established.Argentina, Egypt interestedStill confident on Tejas export capacity, Ananthakrishnan said HAL had some very good leads for the airplane from various countries.

Argentina and Egypt have actually absolutely revealed interest.

Argentina likewise has seen two groups visit us and they are rather convinced about the item and quite pleased about the product information.

Their airforce group has come and flown the airplane.

So, we are pursuing Argentina and want to begin some sort of a relationship building.

An agreement is likely to get signed, he said.Ananthakrishnan stated while Argentina was in conversation for around 15 LCAs, Egypt had actually been provided a proposal for around 20 airplane.

We are yet to hear from them, however even more discussions will happen and we are likewise thinking about setting up a community with them, he included.

Healthy order bookOn HALs financial condition, he stated: We are in a very comfy and very pleased mindset.

In the sense that in the last 3 years, the push for Atmaranibhar Bharat, changing geopolitical circumstance have seen great tidings for the defence communities of the country in basic and HAL in particular.

As on date, he stated, HAL had an order book worth Rs 84,000 crore while orders worth another Rs 50,000 crore were in the pipeline.