The second 404 engine from the US for the LCA Mark 1A fighter jet was delivered to India, received by the Public sector firm Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Monday, informed the defence officials. HAL will receive 12 more GE-404 engines by the end of this financial year.
The engines will be fitted on the LCA Mark 1A fighter jets. The delivery of the engines had been delayed by more than a year due to supply chain issues faced by the American engine manufacturing firm.
Indian Air Force (IAF) has placed orders for 83 LCA Mark 1A fighter jets and a proposal to buy 97 more of these planes is at an advanced stage after the clearance from the Defence Ministry, officials said. Earlier this year, GE Aerospace delivered the first of 99 F404-IN20 engines to HAL for the Light Combat Aircraft Mk 1A fighter jet.
The HAL is planning to integrate the engines with the Mark1A fighters and supply over 10 of these planes to the IAF. Recently, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister PK Misra paid a visit to the HAL facilities in Bengaluru and received the LCA Mark 2 project along with the Mark 1A programme.
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Why this LCA Mark 2 project is important?
The LCA Mark 2 project is expected to be the replacement for the aging fleet of Mirage 2000, Jaguar, and MiG-29 aircraft around the year 2035. More than 400 indigenous LCA aircraft are expected to be built by India with the American GE engine variants in the next decade.
Over ₹9000 crore have been sanctioned for the development of LCA Mk 2, an updated and more lethal version of LCA Tejas. To further promote indigenisation, including the aircraft engine, the Transfer of Technology for manufacturing of the GE engine in India was negotiated with GE during Prime Minister's visit to the US in June 2023.
Tejas would be the largest Fighter aircraft fleet to be operational by the IAF in the upcoming years.
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