BENGALURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit HAL’s Bengaluru complex on Saturday morning and review the progress achieved in the production of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas.
Highly placed government sources said Modi will land at the HAL airport around 9.15am and proceed to the LCA manufacturing facility.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has placed orders for 83 Tejas aircraft. Currently, HAL manufactures eight aircraft a year. It has the capacity to produce up to 16 aircraft a year. Modi has been pushing for indigenous production of defence products and during his visit to the US, GE Aerospace inked a pact with HAL to jointly produce engines for Tejas Mk-II.
The PM, at the inauguration of the five-day Aero India 2023, set an ambitious target of US $5 billion in defence exports by 2024-25.
The sources said the PM will be at the HAL complex for nearly two-and-a-half hours and conduct a detailed review of the projects being implemented there. After holding review meetings, he will leave for Dundigal in Telangana. Modi will address public meetings in Kamareddy and Maheshwaram assembly constituencies in Telangana.