Indian Light Combat Fighter jet Tejas hopes for final clearance next year

The Defence Minister AK Antony today expressed hope that the country’s indigenously developed fighter aircraft, LCA TEJAS, will get Final Operational Clearance of the Indian Air Force by the end of next year.

Speaking at the Annual Awards Functions of DRDO here, Antony said, all stakeholders including the DRDO, IAF and HAL must put their energy together in a focused manner to achieve the objective of getting final operational clearance for this Light Combat Aircraft.

Mr. Antony said countries that depend on imported arsenals cannot become great nation. We continue to be the largest importer of Defence equipment and the share of indigenous content in Defence procurement is low, he said. “Our experience has been that foreign vendors are reluctant to part with critical technologies. There are delays in the supply of essential spares. There are exorbitant price increases. The Services too realize that we cannot be eternally dependent on foreign equipment and platforms”, he said.


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