Why in news?

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited will set up an office in Kuala Lumpur to tap business opportunities in Malaysia and the entire Southeast Asian region .

Highlights:

• The new office is expected to help the public sector firm to explore business around Fighter Lead-in Trainer (FLIT) LCA and other requirements of Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) like Su-30 MKM and Hawk upgrades.
• It will reinforce the commitment of India in supporting the Malaysian Defence Forces and industry for sustainable aerospace and defence landscape in Malaysia.
• HAL’s new office in Kuala Lumpur would take up the market promotion of the company’s range of products and services not only in Malaysia but also in the entire Southeast Asia. The office will also contribute to increasing the serviceability of existing platforms being operated by RMAF and for neighbouring Air Forces in the region

Why HAL?

• being one of the largest producers of Russian-origin Su-30 aircraft, HAL has the capabilities to extend the required support to RMAF for the Su-30 MKM fleet which is facing low serviceability issues due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis.
• “HAL can support RMAF for upgrading their Hawk fleet as well.
• Other HAL platforms like HTT-40, Do-228, Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) etc., have the potential to be inducted by RMAF in future.

Fighter Lead-in Trainer (FLIT) LCA

• The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme was started by the Government of India in 1984 when they established the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) to manage the LCA programme.
• It replaced the ageing Mig 21 fighter planes.
• Designed by: Aeronautical Development Agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development.
• Manufactured by: State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Features:

• The lightest, smallest and tailless multi-role supersonic fighter aircraft in its class.
• Designed to carry a range of air-to-air, air-to-surface, precision-guided, weapons.
• Air to air refuelling capability.
• Maximum payload capacity of 4000 kg.
• It can attend the maximum speed of Mach 1.8.
• The range of the aircraft is 3,000km

Variants of Tejas:

• Tejas Trainer: 2-seater operational conversion trainer for training air force pilots.
• LCA Navy: Twin- and single-seat carrier-capable for the Indian Navy.
• LCA Tejas Navy MK2: This is phase 2 of the LCA Navy variant.

• LCA Tejas Mk-1A: This is an improvement over the LCA Tejas Mk1 with a higher thrust engine.