Govt approves Rs6,500-cr upgrade of Tejas fighter jet
05 Sep 2022
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The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the Tejas Mark-2 project, involving a cost of Rs6,500 crore.
The upgraded variant of the fighter jet, prototype of which has already been developed, is estimated to cost another Rs6,500 crore for flight testing and certification.
The government had, earlier, sanctioned Rs2,500 crore of the Tejas Mark-2 project.
Once the Tejas Mark-2 is completed, it could be followed by another mega project for an ambitious fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, it also said.
The CCS clearance for the over Rs15,000 crore project to build the fifth-gen advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA) "will follow within the next few months", the report further stated.
The Tejas Mark-1 was designed to replace obsolete MiG-21s, while Tejas Mark-2 would succeed Mirage-2000s, Jaguars and MiG-29s in Indian Air Force's (IAF's) combat fleet.
Tejas Mark-2 would have a longer combat range and greater capacity to carry weapons.
So far, IAF has inducted about 30 of the 123 Tejas jets ordered previously from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).
IAF desperately needs Tejas jets to increase the nu,ber of its fighter squadrons, which currently stands at 32, against the 42 squadrons needed to protect the western and northern borders with Pakistan and China.
