India To Double Production Of Tejas LCA From 8 To 16 Per Year Starting 2019

India’s Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) will double the production rate of Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) from eight to 16 per year from 2019.

“Besides enhancing infrastructure for redouble manufacturing of Tejas, HAL has also outsourced manufacture of some major components including wings and fuselage of the jet to private industry which will further speed up rate of production,” HAL Chairman and Managing Director T Suvarna Raju said Sunday.

Raju said the company has also ramped up its infrastructure to deliver 123 Tejas Light Combat Aircraft to the India Air Force with an annual delivery of 16 jets from 2018-19 onwards. 

The HAL has an order from IAF to supply 40 Tejas. The government has also approved the procurement of 83 Tejas Mk-1A taking the total number of the aircraft to be manufactured by HAL to 123. 

In the next five years, the HAL will also carry out major upgrade of almost the entire fighter fleet of IAF including Su-30MKI, Jaguars and Mirage jets, making them more lethal, he said.