The Indian Air Force is taking up some of the biggest indigenisation projects in defence sector as the force led by Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari is working on ‘Make in India’ programmes worth over Rs 3.15 lakh crore.
IAF’s list of domestic projects worth over Rs 3 Lakh Cr
The list of weapon systems and platforms includes the 180 Light Combat Aircraft Mark1A, 156 Light Combat Helicopters, Light Utility Choppers and many other weapon systems which are supposed to form a large chunk of the service in coming times. The LCA Mark1A alone is supposed to be worth over Rs 1.2 lakh crore and is going to create a huge impact on developing a fighter aircraft manufacturing ecosystem in the domestic industry.
The officials said the support towards building a major defence industry is key towards achieving a USD 5 trillion economy as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Giving details of the indigenous made-in-India projects, the officials said that the Air Force is getting 180 LCA Mark 1A aircraft for which the first contract of 83 aircraft has already been signed while the project for the remaining 97 aircraft is set to get the Defence Ministry clearance soon. In the fighter aircraft domain, the Indian Air Force is taking up a major programme to upgrade the Su-30MKI fighter jet fleet under a Rs 65,000 crore project. The project would be carried out indigenously by a joint team of HAL and the IAF with indigenous radars, avionics and weapons to be equipped on the plane.
The upgrade programme would be carried out first with around 90 aircraft and would then be implemented on the remaining 160 plus aircraft gradually making them very close to fifth-generation capabilities in them. The IAF is the lead agency for acquiring 156 light combat helicopters for which the services are looking at spending around Rs 45,000 crore.
Project Kusha
The Defence Ministry recently cleared the Project Kusha of the IAF under which it is going to get five units of the Long-Range Surface to Air Missile which would be similar to the capabilities of the Russian-origin S-400 air defence missile systems, 3 squadrons of which have already been inducted in the service. The Project Kusha has been given approval for worth around Rs 21,700 crores and would be carried out by the DRDO jointly with private and public sector industry. The Indian Air Force is also going to get the basic trainer aircraft in the HTT-40 being built by the HAL at a cost of Rs 6,100 crores.
