The Indian government last year gave a $6 billion contract to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HIAE.NS) for 83 of the locally produced Tejas jets for delivery starting around 2023 - four decades after it was first approved in 1983. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, keen to reduce India's reliance on foreign defence equipment, has also been making diplomatic efforts to export the jets. Britain said in April it would support India’s goal of building its own fighter jets. India currently has a mix of Russian, British and French fighter jets. read moreIndia is looking to ground all its Soviet-era Russian fighter jets, the MiG-21, by 2025, following a number of fatal crashes, the Times of India daily reported last month.

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