LCA Tejas Production Boosted by HAL and L&T Partnership

The first wing assemblies for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk1A, manufactured by Larsen and Toubro (L&T), were officially handed over to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in a ceremony in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defence. Secretary of Defence Production, Sanjeev Kumar, participated virtually as HAL's General Manager of the LCA Tejas Division, M Abdul Salam, received the assemblies from L&T's Precision Manufacturing and Systems Complex.

During the event, Secretary Kumar praised the collaborative efforts of HAL and L&T in pursuing self-reliance. He highlighted HAL's leadership in developing partnerships with private sector companies to boost capabilities in India's defense manufacturing landscape.

Kumar expressed optimism about achieving production targets for the LCA Tejas and urged stakeholders to minimize reliance on international imports. HAL's Chairman and Managing Director, DK Sunil, called the achievement a testament to sustained collaboration and mutual commitment to excellence between HAL and L&T.

Sunil stated that HAL is working intensively with suppliers, including large corporations and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), to foster Aatmanirbharta, or self-reliance, in aerospace and defense. He mentioned that HAL has created a parallel aircraft structural assembly line within the private sector to enhance the production capacity of the LCA Tejas program. Meanwhile, L&T's Senior Vice President and Head of Precision Engineering and Systems, Arun Ramchandani, confirmed plans to increase production from four to twelve wing sets annually using advanced assembly techniques and automation.

To date, the LCA Tejas Division has received various structural modules from several national suppliers, including Air Intake Assemblies from Lakshmi Machine Works, Rear Fuselage Assembly from Alpha Tocol, Loom Assemblies from Amphenol, Fin and Rudder Assemblies from Tata Advanced Systems, Centre Fuselage Assembly from VEM Technologies, and Wing Assemblies from L&T for the Mk1A variant. (ANI)

(With inputs from agencies.)