The Defence ministry announced on Friday that Argentina, Australia, Egypt, the United States, Indonesia, and the Philippines were also interested in the single-engine aircraft and that India had proposed to deliver 18 light combat aircraft (LCA) “Tejas” to Malaysia.
Four decades after its first approval in 1983, the Indian government last year awarded a $6 billion contract to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd for 83 of the locally made Tejas jets, with deliveries to begin around 2023.
The administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been working diplomatically to export the jets in an effort to lessen India’s reliance on foreign military hardware. The Tejas has faced numerous design and other difficulties, and the Indian Navy once rejected it because it was too heavy.
Other nations that have expressed interest in the LCA aircraft include Argentina, Australia, Egypt, the United States, Indonesia, and the Philippines, according to a written response given to lawmakers by India’s junior defence minister, Ajay Bhatt.
He said that the nation was also engaged in the production of a stealth fighter plane but would not provide a date due to national security considerations.
In April, Britain declared that it will back India’s effort to produce its own fighter jets. Currently, India possesses a mixture of fighter jets made in France, Britain, and Russia.
Following many catastrophic crashes, India plans to ground all of its MiG-21 Russian fighter jets from the Soviet era by 2025, reported last month.
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