FMT:
India faces setback in bid to sell Tejas fighter jet to Malaysia
There is stiff competition from South Korea, says HAL chairman CB Ananthakrishnan.
Malaysia has shortlisted the Tejas for an order of 16 planes but is also looking to South Korea for other options.
PETALING JAYA: India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is facing an uphill battle in its attempt to sell its light-combat aircraft to Malaysia, the company’s top executives said today.
Malaysia has shortlisted the Tejas light fighter jet for an order of around 16 planes, and Argentina, Egypt and Botswana have also expressed interest, HAL chairman and managing director CB Ananthakrishnan told reporters at a conference during Aero India, the country’s biggest aviation event, in Bengaluru.
He said that in Malaysia there had been a “slight setback” amid stiff competition with a South Korean rival.
“We have not received anything in black and white, but we are hearing that Koreans will get the order,” Ananthakrishnan said. “Notwithstanding that, still we are making out attempts to push through our product.”
HAL is also in talks with the Philippines to sell its light-combat helicopters, he added.
“There is a lot of interest generated in the global aerospace market. Sooner or later we will have a breakthrough order,” he said.
HAL is targeting export sales of 25 billion Indian rupees (RM1.42 billion) over the next few years, its director of operations Jayadeva EP told Reuters.
India has been one of the world’s biggest importers of defence equipment for decades, but it has punched below its weight in the global arms export market.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday set out ambitions to more than triple the value of annual defence exports to US$5 billion (RM21 billion) over the next two years and his government has been making diplomatic efforts to export the Tejas.
The Indian government in 2021 gave a US$6 billion (RM25.5 billion) contract to HAL for 83 of the locally produced Tejas jets for delivery starting around 2023 — four decades after the design began in 1983.
The Tejas has been beset by design and other challenges, and was once rejected by the Indian Navy as too heavy.
HAL plans to use the General Electric manufactured 414 engine on a second generation of light-combat aircraft, Ananthakrishnan said, adding it was in talks to produce those engines in India.
PETALING JAYA: India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is facing an uphill battle in its attempt to sell its light-combat aircraft to Malaysia, the company’s top executives said today.
Malaysia has shortlisted the Tejas light fighter jet for an order of around 16 planes, and Argentina, Egypt and Botswana have also expressed interest, HAL chairman and managing director CB Ananthakrishnan told reporters at a conference during Aero India, the country’s biggest aviation event, in Bengaluru.
He said that in Malaysia there had been a “slight setback” amid stiff competition with a South Korean rival.
“We have not received anything in black and white, but we are hearing that Koreans will get the order,” Ananthakrishnan said. “Notwithstanding that, still we are making out attempts to push through our product.”
HAL is also in talks with the Philippines to sell its light-combat helicopters, he added.
“There is a lot of interest generated in the global aerospace market. Sooner or later we will have a breakthrough order,” he said.
HAL is targeting export sales of 25 billion Indian rupees (RM1.42 billion) over the next few years, its director of operations Jayadeva EP told Reuters.
India has been one of the world’s biggest importers of defence equipment for decades, but it has punched below its weight in the global arms export market.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday set out ambitions to more than triple the value of annual defence exports to US$5 billion (RM21 billion) over the next two years and his government has been making diplomatic efforts to export the Tejas.
The Indian government in 2021 gave a US$6 billion (RM25.5 billion) contract to HAL for 83 of the locally produced Tejas jets for delivery starting around 2023 — four decades after the design began in 1983.
The Tejas has been beset by design and other challenges, and was once rejected by the Indian Navy as too heavy.
HAL plans to use the General Electric manufactured 414 engine on a second generation of light-combat aircraft, Ananthakrishnan said, adding it was in talks to produce those engines in India.
Tejas would allow Malaysia to keep away from the restrictions of the Wankee military-industrial complex, as India maintains an independent policy. However, the design is rather aged, due to its slow development.
ReplyDeleteThe South Korean KF-21 is much more modern but is heavily entangled in American avionics , radar, sensors, engines , compatible weapons, with the usual American restrictions on use.
Sorry, Malaysia is looking at the South Korean FA-50 , but similar comments apply.
ReplyDeleteGet the Russian ones. They are good at terrorising Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteIn the last one year, Ukraine has done an excellent job turning Russian MIGs and Sukhois into scrap metal.
DeleteThe terror attacks on Ukraine are being lobbed by Russia jets that dare not cross over the battle lines.
Wakakakaka…
Delete"Russia jets that dare not cross over the battle lines"
Wow… wow…. Where did u get yr news? Or yr pure imaginary fart!
Let this not be another LCS in the making.
ReplyDelete