INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: India is now set to give preliminary approval to three mega indigenous projects to manufacture another aircraft carrier, 97 more
Tejas fighters and 156 Prachand light combat helicopters, which together will be worth around Rs 1.4 lakh crore.The Rajnath Singh-led
the three crucial projects at a meeting slated on November 30, sources told TOI on Thursday.Once the AoNs are accorded, the tendering and
commercial negotiations will take place before the three deals are submitted to the cabinet committee on security for the final nod.All
(LR-SAM) to be readied by 2028-2029The 97 Tejas Mark-1A fighters, at a cost of around Rs 55,000 crore, will add to the 83 such jets already
ordered under the Rs 46,898 crore contract inked with Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) in February 2021.These 180 Tejas jets are critical for IAF
to boost the number of its fighter squadrons, which is down to just 31 when at least 42 are required to tackle China and Pakistan
The first 83 Mark-1A jets are slated for delivery in the February 2024-February 2028 timeframe.It will take 8-10 years for the second
44,000-tonne INS Vikrant or IAC-1.INS Vikrant was commissioned in September 2022, after being built for around Rs 20,000 crore, but will be
fully combat-ready only by mid-2024
The Navy also has the older Russian-origin carrier INS Vikramaditya, the refurbished Admiral Gorshkov inducted in November 2013 under a
$2.33 billion deal with Russia.The Navy currently has only 40 of the 45 MiG-29K jets, inducted from Russia for another $2 billion, to
The twin-engine deck-based fighter being developed by DRDO is likely to take at least a decade to become fully operational
In the interim, India is now finalizing the Rs 50,000 crore acquisition of 26 Rafale-Marine fighter jets from France.The 156 Prachand
helicopters (90 for Army, 66 IAF), capable of offensive operations in high-altitude areas like Siachen Glacier and eastern Ladakh, in turn,
will cost around Rs 45,000 crore.They will add to the 15 such choppers (10 IAF and 15 Army) already inducted under the first Rs 3,887 crore
contract in March last year
The need for a mountain warfare-capable chopper like the 5.8-tonne Prachand, which is armed with 20mm turret guns, 70mm rocket systems and
air-to-air missiles, was first acutely felt during the 1999 Kargil conflict.The Navy, on its part, initially wanted a nuclear-powered
65,000-tonne IAC-2, capable of carrying a larger aviation complement than the 30-aircraft capacity of INS Vikrant
But budgetary constraints have made it opt for a smaller electric-propulsion IAC-2.China, incidentally, already operates two aircraft
carriers, Liaoning and Shandong, and is fast building two more
