Defence minister inaugurates 3rd production line of LCA Mk1A and 2nd of HTT-40 at HAL Nashik

 LCA Mk1A 

Defence minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the third Production Line of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A and the second Production Line of Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40) at the Nashik facility of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on 17 October 2025. He also flagged-off the first LCA Mk1A produced at the facility.

In his address, Singh described the flight of the state-of-the-art aircraft as a shining symbol of India’s growing aatmanirbharta in defence. Highlighting the transformation of the defence sector in the last decade under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he asserted that the country, which once imported 65-70 per cent of critical military hardware, is now manufacturing 65 per cent of the equipment on its own soil. He voiced the government’s resolve to increase domestic manufacturing to 100 per cent in the times to come.

“When we came to power in 2014, we realised that without self-reliance, we can never be truly secure. In the beginning, we faced numerous challenges, the biggest being ‘limited defence preparedness’ and ‘import dependency’. Everything was limited to government enterprises, and the private sector had no significant participation in the production ecosystem. In addition, there was not enough focus on defence planning, advanced technology, and innovation. This forced us to depend on other countries for critical equipment and cutting-edge systems, which increased costs and created strategic vulnerabilities. This challenge encouraged us to move forward in the direction of new thinking and reforms. The results are visible today. We not only reduced import dependency but also strengthened our commitment to indigenisation. Whatever we used to buy from abroad, we are now manufacturing it domestically, be it fighter aircraft, missiles, engines and electronic warfare systems,” said Singh.