Malaysia may not buy 'Tejas' from India

HAL CMD Ananthakrishnan admitted that there is a slight setback as Koreans are likely to get the order. However, HAL is still pushing for the product.

Since India aims to become a net exporter of defence products, it has been trying to market its 'Tejas' brand of light combat aircrafts (LCAs) to select countries, that included Malaysia. However, now it appears that the country may not buy India's indigenously developed LCA, instead prefer the ones from South Korea. This, according to the military establishment, is a major setback, specially to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), since LCA Tejas is India's face in the fighter jet market.

Talking about the recent developments on this front, HAL chairman and managing director C.B. Ananthakrishnan reiterated that the Defence PSU was one of the shortlisted companies and expecting for the contract. However, things have not happened the way HAL had desired and in all likelihood a South Korean company may win the contract. It's pertinent to note that Malaysia had shortlisted HAL for 16 light combat aircrafts.

However, there is stiff competition as far as the prices of the LCAs are concerned and the firm from South Korea has a clear edge over India's HAL. Ananthakrishnan admitted that there is a slight setback as Koreans are likely to get the order. However, he also reiterated that HAL is still pushing for the product.

Although Malaysia may go for the South Korean product, India's LCA Tejas gave tough competition to the aircrafts that were pitched by the US, China and Russia, amongst others. Needless to say, South Korea came up with a better deal for Malaysia which is upgrading its capabilities with better quality combat aircraft but with a limited budget.

Argentina, Egypt could be the potential buyers

Tejas has also received interests from the air forces of Argentina and Egypt. For the record, HAL confirms that it has proposed 15 LCAs to Argentina. Similarly, 20 LCAs have also been proposed to Egypt. Interestingly, the Egyptian President was the official guest on this year's Republic Day parade in New Delhi. The two countries share great historic relations and with the Tejas deal, even defence relations could go deeper.

LCA Tejas, a 4.5 generation all-weather and multi-role fighter aircraft, generated huge curiosity among the potential buyers not just for its performance but for its lower cost as well. India offers a cost-competitive product and that also goes for the aircraft. With its capabilities like offensive air support to close combat and ground attack role, Tejas is simply best in the category of multirole light combat aircraft.