India proffers HAL its largest-ever tender: 97 Tejas fighters

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Indian state-owned aerospace company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has received a request for proposal from the Ministry of Defence for 97 light fighters, setting up the largest-ever order for the aircraft.

The company’s Tejas fighters – also known as Light Combat Aircraft, or LCA – are critical to the Indian Air Force, as the service currently has only 31 fighter squadrons compared to a mandated level of 42.

A HAL spokesperson confirmed that the company had received the solicitation but couldn’t say when a response with a concrete pricing proposal would be delivered. The Indian Air Force did not respond to a question about the expected price tag for the contract, but published estimates peg the cost at somewhere north of INR650 billion, or roughly $7.8 billion.

This 97-fighter tender request follows the Defence Acquisition Council’s formal acceptance of the military requirement for the aircraft on Nov. 30, 2023.

HAL already has two Tejas production lines in Bangalore, each of which can produce eight aircraft annually. A third production line at Nashik, Maharashtra, is due to open in October, adding another eight planes to the annual output.

That means the company could be in a position to manufacture 24 LCAs annually by 2025 or 2026.

The new tender sets up HAL’s second contract for the aircraft, after a $6.5 billion deal in January 2021 for 73 single-seat and 10 twin-seat trainer aircraft. The first production LCA Mk1A, the latest configuration, completed its maiden flight on March 28. HAL was supposed to deliver the first copy in February, a deadline that the company missed.

The new order will give the Air Force 180 Mk1A fighters across nine squadrons, in addition to 40 older LCA Mk1 aircraft.

HAL noted four main advances in the newer Tejas version: an advanced electronic warfare suite with self-protection jammer, active electronically scanned array radar, improvements to ease maintenance, and the ability to fire beyond-visual-range missiles.

Once concluded, the deal will greatly boost HAL’s order books, which as of March 31 exceeded $11.2 billion. Earlier this month, the company announced record revenues of more than $3.6 billion for the financial year that just ended, an increase of 11% over the previous year.

Gordon Arthur is an Asia correspondent for Defense News. After a 20-year stint working in Hong Kong, he now resides in New Zealand. He has attended military exercises and defense exhibitions in about 20 countries around the Asia-Pacific region.

新西兰基督城——印度国有航空航天公司印度斯坦航空有限公司（HAL）已收到国防部发出的97架轻型战斗机的招标邀请，这将是该型飞机有史以来最大的订单。

该公司生产的“光辉”（Tejas）战斗机——也称为轻型战斗机（LCA）——对印度空军至关重要，因为该部队目前只有 31 个战斗机中队，而规定的数量为 42 个。

印度斯坦航空有限公司（HAL）发言人证实，该公司已收到招标邀请，但无法说明何时能提供包含具体报价的回复。印度空军未回应有关合同预期价格的问题，但已公布的估计显示，合同金额将超过6500亿印度卢比，约合78亿美元。

此次97架战斗机的招标请求是在国防采购委员会于2023年11月30日正式接受军方对该型飞机的需求之后提出的。

印度斯坦航空有限公司（HAL）在班加罗尔已拥有两条“光辉”（Tejas）战斗机生产线，每条生产线年产能为8架。位于马哈拉施特拉邦纳西克的第三条生产线将于10月投产，届时年产能将再增加8架。

这意味着该公司到 2025 年或 2026 年可能每年能够生产 24 辆 LCA。

此次新招标是印度斯坦航空有限公司（HAL）继2021年1月签署价值65亿美元的73架单座和10架双座教练机合同后，第二次订购该型飞机。首架量产型LCA Mk1A（最新配置）于3月28日完成首飞。HAL原计划于2月交付首架飞机，但未能按期完成。

新订单将为美国空军提供 180 架 Mk1A 战斗机，分布在九个中队，此外还有 40 架较老的 LCA Mk1 飞机。

印度斯坦航空有限公司 (HAL) 指出，新版“光辉”战斗机有四项主要改进：先进的电子战套件，配备自卫干扰器、有源电子扫描阵列雷达、改进以简化维护，以及发射超视距导弹的能力。

一旦交易完成，将大幅提升HAL的订单量，截至3月31日，其订单总额已超过112亿美元。本月初，该公司宣布刚刚结束的财年营收超过36亿美元，创历史新高，较上年增长11%。

戈登·阿瑟是《防务新闻》的亚洲特派记者。在香港工作20年后，他现居新西兰。他曾到访亚太地区约20个国家，参加过军事演习和防务展览。