New Delhi. India on Thursday signed a $7 billion order for 97 indigenously designed Tejas fighter jets.

India, one of the world’s largest arms importers, has accorded high priority to modernising its military and has been making repeated efforts to boost domestic production.

The demand for Tejas fighters is the largest in terms of the number of fighter jets that India has carried at a time.

The first Indian jet Tejas (Pratibha) was inducted into the IAF in 2016 and is the latest demand for an upgraded version of the fighter, the Mk-1A.

The Ministry of Defence has signed a contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to procure 97 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk1A, including 98 fighter and 29 twin-seater.

HAL is a public sector defence company with more than 100 Indian companies involved in the manufacturing process. The aircraft was carrying “more than 64 per cent indigenous content”.

“The delivery of these aircraft will begin by 2027÷028 and will be completed over a period of six years,” the ministry said. New Delhi faces threats, especially from various countries, including neighbouring Pakistan. India fought a four-day conflict in May, its worst since 1999.

Both sides claimed victory by claiming to have shot down each other’s fighter jets.

Defense Readiness Strengthened

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in a statement that the aircraft will strengthen its defence preparedness.

“This agreement reflects the confidence and confidence of the government and the Armed Forces in the indigenously developed aircraft Tejas,” he said.

It will be the mainstay of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the coming years. CHANDIGARH: India will hold a flypast ceremony on Friday for the last flight of the Soviet-era MiG-21 fighter jets at a major air base in Chandigarh. With this, an estimated 36 MiGs will end their service.

In all, India had purchased 874 MiG-21 aircraft. Over the decades, the MiG-21 suffered nearly 400 crashes and killed 200 Indian pilots. That’s why the planes have been nicknamed the ‘flying coffin’ by critics.

According to Angad Singh, co-author of a book on MiGs, New Delhi had planned to phase out these aircraft by the mid-1990s.

“Those efforts were stalled because India had no option but to upgrade these aircraft,” he said. ’

India had signed a deal with France’s Dassault Aviation in April to buy 26 Rafale fighter jets. They will join the 36 Rafale fighter jets already in service. Singh had said in August that India would work with a French company to develop and manufacture fighter jet engines in the country.

Then in May, it was announced that New Delhi had approved the prototype of the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).

In this decade, India has opened its huge helicopter factory, launched its first domestic aircraft carrier, warships and submarines, and successfully tested a long-range hypersonic missile.

Its latest test on Wednesday was the Agni-Prime missile, which is based on a specially-designed missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles).