SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
HAL CMD CB Ananthakrishnan in a recent media interview said that the company has pitched its LCA-Tejas fighter jet to Malaysia, Argentina, and Egypt and is hopeful that it will be able to close one major export order for the fighter jet in the next 2-3 years.
Ananthakrishnan confirmed that the Malaysian tender is in the final phase, even though Malaysian media reports had reported that the South Korean FA-50 jet won the deal, but due to price difference, deal is yet to be concluded. idrw.org has been told that recently final report has been submitted to the Ministry of Finance by RMAF and soon final verdict will be out.
CMD also confirmed that the Argentinian delegation that visited the HAL facility last month and were happy with the installed capabilities of the HAL and impressed with the LCA-Tejas aircraft and soon will be submitting a final report after evaluation of the jet to the Argentinian Defence Ministry.
Argentina has selected Indian LCA-Tejas, Chinese JF-17, and Surplus F-16S belonging to Royal Danish Air Force. Argentina is looking to procure 12 jets in initial order that will be later followed by another 12. Egypt is looking to procure 70-80 LIFT variants of the Advance fighter trainer and has been offered local production and Transfer of Technology for the LCA-Trainer aircraft by HAL but the tender is still in the initial stages.
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