Indian fighters will continue to fly on American "engines". Yesterday, August 21, the portal flightglobal.com He announced that Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd has signed a contract with GE Aviation for the supply of F404 engines for the LCA Mk1A Tejas aircraft.
The transaction value is estimated at $716 million. For this money, GE Aviation will supply India with 99 F404-GE-IN20 engines, as well as provide "support services". Deliveries will take place in batches until 2029.
LCA Mk1A Tejas Fighters
Image source: defensenews.com
The new engines are designed for a new batch of Tejas fighters, the purchase of which was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of India in January this year. The cost of building 83 aircraft is estimated at $6.24 billion plus investments in infrastructure in the amount of $164.3 million.
The program, launched back in 1983 as Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), is a typical "long-term construction". The first flight of the fighter, later called Tejas, took place in 2001. The first combat aircraft entered service in 2016. It was planned that the Indian fighters would be equipped with domestic Kaveri engines, but they could not bring it to the required characteristics.
