Tejas to beat Rafale, F-21? IAF switching to LCA, says Bipin Rawat
The Indian Air Force’s long-delayed decide to buy over 100 foreign-designed fighters has made little progress within the past 20 years . the newest iteration of the plan came in April 2018, when the Indian Air Force formally launched a process to shop for 114 fighters during a deal estimated to be worth around $15 billion. The Indian Air Force was also simultaneously negotiating with HAL to shop for 83 units of the indigenously designed Tejas fighter at an estimated cost of $6 billion. The Indian Air Force had already ordered 40 Tejas jets from HAL. On Thursday, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat indicated that the Indian Air Force was “switching” to the Tejas in situ of foreign options. In an interview to Bloomberg, Rawat said, “The Indian Air Force is switching that [order for foreign fighters] to the LCA. The IAF is saying, i might rather take the indigenous fighter, it's good.” Rawat argued that the induction of additional Tejas fighters will help India emerge as a key exporter of defence equipment, citing the “relatively low price” of the jets. Rawat described the proposed move to purchasing indigenous Tejas fighters as a “shift to start out using locally made weaponry”.
