NEW DELHI: India on Saturday announced its plans to buy 100-more made-in-India LCA Mark 1A fighter jets to give a boost to the indigenous aerospace sector.

The announcement was made by Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari in Spain, soon after receiving the first C-295 transport aircraft at an aircraft manufacturing facility.

IAF chief Chaudhari said that the latest decision has been taken to replace several aircraft in the MiG series fleet.“The LCA was developed from the ground up for replacement of the large MiG series fleet including the MiG-21, MiG 23 and MiG-27 aircraft.

With the phasing out of all these aircraft, it is essential that we have adequate numbers of the LCA class aircraft in our inventory.

So, apart from the 83 LCA Mark 1A that we have already contracted for, we are moving a case for around 100 more aircraft," said Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari.He added that the plans have been submitted to the defence ministry and all other stakeholders in the national security establishment.The decision to buy around 100 more of these planes came around the time when the Indian Air Force chief held a review meeting of the indigenous fighter jet programme with all entities involved including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited last month.The order would mean that the LCA Tejas fighters would re-enter the Indian Air Force in very large numbers.

The last order for LCA Mark1A was for 83 aircraft and the first plane would be delivered around February 2024.

LCA Mark 1A is the advanced version of Tejas aircraft.

The LCA Mark 1A plane has more advanced avionics and radars than the initial 40 LCAs being supplied to the Air Force.

The IAF will have 40 LCA, over 180 LCA Mark-1A and at least 120 LCA Mark-2 planes in the next 15 years.The indigenous content in the new LCA Mark 1A is going to be more than 65 per cent.The Indian Air Force chief in the project review meeting last month had clearly stated that the LCA has been the flag bearer of the force's efforts towards the indigenisation of its aircraft fleet.The programme has been the harbinger of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India initiatives of the nation.

More importantly, it is a flag bearer of India's self-reliance in the aerospace sector.India on Friday also gave the preliminary nod for nine capital acquisition projects worth Rs 45,000 crore for the armed forces, including 12 more Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets, five next-generation naval survey vessels, around 800 light armoured multi-purpose vehicles and over 200 Dhruvastra anti-tank guided missiles.

(With inputs from agencies)