LCA Tejas Mk1A gets wings! HAL accelerates fighter jet production as L&K hands over wing assemblies

In what comes as a major milestone in India's indigenous defence manufacturing, Larsen & Toubro handed over the first set of wing assemblies for Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Coimbatore of Tamil Nadu, on Thursday.

 

A major upgrade over the earlier Tejas Mk1 variant, Tejas Mk-1A, developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA),  is central to the Indian Air Force’s efforts to modernise its fighter fleet. The single-engine Mk-1A will replace the IAF's MiG-21 fighters. The IAF is looking at inducting the warplanes as the number of its fighter squadrons has gone down to 31 from officially sanctioned strength of 42.

 

L&T is set to supply four wing sets for the fighter jet annually, with plans to scale up production to 12 sets per annum through advanced assembly processes and automation.

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L&T is not the only private player providing structural modules for the LCA Tejas Mk-1A. The LCA Tejas Division has received structural modules of air intake assemblies from Lakshmi Machine Works, rear fuselage assembly from Alpha Tocol, loom assemblies from Amphenol, fin & rudder assemblies from Tata Advanced Systems, and centre fuselage assembly from VEM Technologies.

 

General Manager (LCA Tejas Division) M. Abdul Salam received the assemblies on behalf of HAL from Precision Manufacturing & Systems Complex unit of L&T, while Secretary (Defence Production) Sanjeev Kumar attended the event virtually.

 

Hailing HAL and L&T for their efforts to achieve self-reliance in defence, Kumar said he is confident of meeting the requirement of the production target for LCA Tejas.

 

Dubbing the handing over of wing assemblies "a testament to years of dedicated hand-holding and a shared commitment to excellence from HAL and L&T," HAL CMD D.K. Sunil said, "HAL is working with suppliers, both large and SMEs, as an initiative towards achieving Aatmanirbharta in the aerospace and defence sector. HAL has effectively built a parallel aircraft structural assembly line in the private sector, which will help in capacity augmentation of the LCA Tejas programme."

Defence