: The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by the Defence Minister has two mega proposals lined up from the Navy and the Air Force, estimated to cumulatively cost over ₹1 lakh crore, as it is expected to meet at the end of this month. The Navy’s proposal for a repeat order of a Vikrant-like aircraft carrier, estimated to cost approximately ₹40,000 crore, and 97 additional Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-MK1A fighters for the Indian Air Force (IAF), estimated to cost around ₹67,000 crore, are lined up for approval from the DAC, according to defence sources.
Another proposal for major upgrade of 84 SU-30MKI fighter jets at a cost of just over ₹6,000 crore in service with the IAF is set to be taken up by the Defence Procurement Board (DPB), which is scheduled to meet on Friday.
Both the proposals, for a second Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC)-II and 97 LCA-MK1A, have already been cleared by the Defence Procurement Board (DPB) and are expected to be taken up by the DAC at its next meeting, two sources, with knowledge of the matter, independently confirmed to The Hindu. The Sukhoi upgrade proposal is before the DPB which is scheduled to meet on Friday while the DAC is expected to meet on October 29 or 30, one of the sources said.
The proposal for IAC-II was cleared by the DPB in mid-September, one of the highly-placed sources said. The IAC-II displacing 45,000 tonnes will see some modifications and newer technologies incorporated in the original design of the country’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) INS Vikrant, which was commissioned in September 2022 and will also be manufactured by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL).
Additional jets
Last week, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Vivek Ram Chaudhari announced that they have moved a case for 97 additional LCA-MK1A jets in addition to the 83 jets on order with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which would cumulatively cost around ₹1.15 lakh crore. This would eventually make 180 LCA-MK1A jets and 220 jets of the MK1 variant.
In 2021, the Defence Ministry had signed a ₹48,000-crore deal with the HAL to supply 83 LCA-Mk1A, a more capable fighter than the current LCA-MK1 in service. As per the contract, three LCA-MK1A are scheduled to be delivered to the IAF in February 2024 and 16 aircraft per year for subsequent five years. Officials said the deliveries of the larger LCA-MK2 jets were expected to commence from 2032 by which time the deliveries of all LCA-MK1A were expected to be completed with the HAL eventually ramping up production to 24 aircraft per year.
Sukhoi upgrade
The long-pending Su-30MKI upgrade will be initially rolled out with 84 jets and will largely be an indigenous effort, sources said. ACM Chaudhari has said that the 84 jets will see the upgradation of 51 systems with an indigenous content of 78%.
A source said that the original equipment manufacturer Russia would be involved in upgrading the fly-by-wire system, integration of systems among others and majority of the upgrades, including radar and avionics, will be indigenous. As part of this, the indigenous Uttam Advanced Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is expected to be integrated on the jets, sources said.
