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Australia named as potential buyer of India’s Tejas warplane

The delta-wing Tejas fighter has been sold to Malaysia. Is Australia another customer? <i>Photo: Hindustan Aeronautics</i>

The delta-wing Tejas fighter has been sold to Malaysia. Is Australia another customer? Photo: Hindustan Aeronautics

India has offered to sell 18 light-combat aircraft (LCA) to Malaysia, the defence ministry says, adding that Australia, Argentina, Egypt, the United States, Indonesia, and the Philippines are also interested in the single-engine jet.

The Indian government last year gave a $US6 billion ($A8.6 billion) contract to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics for 83 of the locally produced Tejas jets for delivery starting around 2023 – four decades after it was first approved in 1983.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, keen to reduce India’s reliance on foreign defence equipment, has also been making diplomatic efforts to export the jets.

The Tejas has been beset by design and other challenges, and was previously rejected by the Indian Navy as too heavy.

The defence ministry told parliament Hindustan Aeronautics in October last year responded to a request for proposal from the Royal Malaysian Air Force for 18 jets, offering to sell the two-seater variant of Tejas

“Other countries which have evinced interest in the LCA aircraft are: Argentina, Australia, Egypt, USA, Indonesia, and Philippines,” India’s junior defence minister, Ajay Bhatt, told members of parliament in a written reply.

Stealth fighter next?

He said the country was also working on manufacturing a stealth fighter jet, but declined to given a timeline citing national security concerns.

Britain said in April it would support India’s goal of building its own fighter jets.

India currently uses a mix of Russian, British and French aircraft for its military.

India is looking to ground all its Soviet-era Russian fighter jets, the MiG-21, by 2025, following a number of fatal crashes, the Times of India reported last month.

-AAP

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