India’s Tejas top choice for Malaysia, says HAL chief

India's Tejas light combat aircraft has emerged as the top choice for Malaysia as the Southeast Asian nation looks at replacing its old fleet of fighter jets. The two sides are holding negotiations to firm up the procurement.

Malaysia has narrowed down on Indian aircraft despite stiff competition from China's JF 17 jet, South Korea's FA 50 and Russia's Mig 35 as well as Yak 130, Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, R Madhavan, told PTI in an interview.

India is offering to set up an MRO Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facility in Malaysia for its Russian-origin Su-30 fighter fleet, because it is facing difficulties in procuring spare parts for aircraft from Russia in view of western sanctions against Moscow.

Madhavan said when asked whether the deal would be closed soon, I am very confident that it will be closed unless a political shift takes place.

The top executive of the state-owned aerospace behemoth said if the deal is sealed, it will give a very good signal to other potential buyers of the aircraft and boost its overall export potential.

The final stages of the negotiations are almost complete. Madhavan said that we are the only country that offers them the support for their Su- 30 aircraft, other than Russia. We are the only country that can support them to the extent that they need for the Sukhoi fleet.

It is learned that the Chinese JF 17 was cheaper but could not match the technical parameters of the Tejas Mk-IA variant and the offer of maintenance of the Su 30 fleet as proposed by India.

A team of high-ranking officials and experts is expected to visit India soon to take over the procurement process.

Malaysia is purchasing the aircraft to replace its fleet of Russian MiG 29 fighter planes. The number of aircraft Malaysia is looking at procuring is not immediately clear.

Madhavan said that Tejas is a much superior aircraft compared to JF 17 and FA 50 and that the selection of Indian aircraft would provide Malaysia with the option to go in for future upgrades of the fleet.

Tejas, manufactured by HAL, is a multi-engine and highly agile multi-role supersonic fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments.

In February of last year, the defence ministry sealed a Rs 48,000 crore deal with HAL for the procurement of 83 Tejas fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force IAF India. In addition to that, the defence ministry started work on the MK 2 version of the Tejas and the ambitious USD 5 billion project to develop a fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft AMCA We are the only one who covered everything they need and we met their budget requirements as well, Madhavan said.

Nobody will offer them upgrades as fast as we would offer. The HAL chief said that they will have an alternative available in Tejas Mark 2 and they can even think of AMCA.

He said that HAL is going to maintain the same level of services to Malaysia as it has been giving to the IAF.

Asked whether the supply of Tejas jets will be affected by HAL's Malaysian contract, Madhavan said that the production of the aircraft would be ramped up depending on the requirement.

The plan says that the HAL would begin delivering the Mk-IA variant to the IAF in 2025 and all 83 jets would have to be handed over by 2030.

Madhavan said that if the deal with Malaysia is sealed, it will signal the acceptability of the aircraft, which will result in the opening up of many other options.

He said it is the best in this category.