Tejas LCA to be exported? India eyes deal with Nigeria, others

New Delhi: Despite a set back in its first endeavour, India is in talks with at least three nations – Nigeria being the latest – for exporting the home-grown combat aircraft Tejas LCA Mk-1, top officials of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited said here on Thursday.

While discussions with the African nation are at an early stage, the Bengaluru-based state-owned aviation major already held talks with Egypt and Argentina, with officials from the Latin American country visiting the HAL facilities earlier this year.

“We are in talks with Nigeria on Tejas-LCA, but it is early days. This is apart from our discussions with Egypt and Argentina that witnessed a change in the government recently,” C B Ananthakrishnan, HAL chairman-cum-managing director told journalists here on the sidelines of a HAL conference on avionics.

The plan is to sell 15 aircraft to Argentina and 20 to Egypt to start with. Other countries that evinced interest in Tejas LCA jet are USA, Australia, Indonesia and Philippines.

Tejas LCA is a single-engine multi-role fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments to carry out missions on air defence, reconnaissance and strike roles.

Earlier, HAL had submitted a proposal to Malaysia’s Ministry of Defence to supply 18 Tejas LCA responding to a global tender floated by the Royal Malaysian Air Force. But the Indian company, despite being shortlisted as one of two final contenders, lost the deal to South Korean FA-50 made by Korean Aerospace Industries.

Ananthakrishna said HAL would also be looking at exporting avionics like mission computers, navigational systems and display systems because of its growing market as indigenous products could be customised for platforms used for foreign countries.

“Avionics are crucial to upgrade military aircraft. Globally the market is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 8% to touch 70 billion by 2030,” he said.

Platforms like Dhruv advanced Lightweight helicopter and LCA Tejas were offered to foreign customers because of their superior avionics, he added.

Inaugurating the conference, Gen Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Defence Staff said India’s challenges must be resolved with Indian solutions as the Russian-Ukraine war affected the operational efficiency of the armed forces around the world and exposed the vulnerability of global supply chains.