Defence public sector major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has received Request for Proposal (RFP) for 83 LCA Tejas aircrafts from Indian Air Force (IAF), on December 20, company said in a statement.

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) -apex body for defence acquisition in MoD, last year cleared proposal for purchase of 83 LCA Mark 1 A aircrafts including 10 twin seat trainer version. The proposal is expected to cost over 50,000 cr to IAF.

Till date, IAF has signed two contracts with HAL for procurement of 40 Tejas aircrafts to populate two squadrons. The first contract was signed on March 31, 2006, to procure 20 Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) standard aircraft. HAL was required to finish delivery by December 2011.

In the second contract signed on December 23, 2010, for 20 Final Operational Clearance (FOC) standard aircraft to be completed by December 2016.

"Out of total 20 IOC aircraft (16 fighters and 4 trainers), 5 fighters have been delivered by HAL to IAF till date. The production of remaining 15 IOC aircraft (11 fighters + 4 trainers) are taken up at HAL," Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on December 20.

"Production for 20 FOC aircraft, will be taken up after FOC clearance by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA)," he added.

To ramp up the delivery of Tejas, Government, sanctioned over 1381 cr in March, 2017 which will double the up production capacity from existing 8 aircraft to 16 aircraft in a year. HAL is also establishing a second production line for these aircrafts.

In order to reduce the manufacturing time, HAL is improving its supply chain management, learning and augmentation of manpower and finalizing contracts for outsourcing of major modules like front fuselage, centre fuselage, rear fuselage, wing and various sub-assemblies to private partners.

The new proposal will populate four fighter squadron of IAF and the production will begin from 2019-20 after completion of FOC contract.