Strong points
- Government told parliament Malaysia is buying 18 Tejas jets
- The United States, Argentina, Australia, Egypt, Indonesia and the Philippines have also expressed interest in Tejas
- HAL responded to the RFP issued against the RFP issued by the Royal Malaysian Air Force
Boost to manufacture in India: The government told parliament on Friday that Malaysia was buying 18 Tejas jets while the United States, Argentina, Australia, Egypt, Indonesia and the Philippines have also expressed interest in acquiring the light combat aircraft (LCA).
The government said: “Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a Defense PSU under the Ministry of Defence, responded to a request for information received from the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) in February 2019 for class aircraft ACL.
In a written response to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Defence, Ajay Bhatt, said: “In October 2021, HAL responded to the Request for Proposal issued against Tender published by the Royal Malaysian Air Force for 18 Fighter Lead In Trainer – Light Combat Aircraft (FLIT-LCA) and offered the two-seat LCA Tejas variant.”
The government has taken several policy initiatives in recent years and introduced reforms to encourage indigenous design, development and manufacturing of defense equipment in the country, thereby increasing production.
These initiatives include:
- Prioritize the purchase of fixed assets from domestic sources as part of the 2020 defense acquisition process.
- The announcement of 18 major defense platforms for industry-led design development in March 2022.
- Notification of three ‘positive indigenization lists’ of 310 elements in total and two ‘positive indigenization lists’ of 2,958 elements of Defense Public Sector Enterprises (DPSU), for which there would be an embargo on the importation beyond the deadlines indicated against them.
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