by Rahul Bedi

India's state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has signed a deal with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)/Elta Systems for 83 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars and an equal number of electronic warfare (EW) suites to be fitted onto the Mk 1A variant of the indigenously developed Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

Industry sources told Jane's that the deal for ELM-2052 fire control radars and pod-mounted ELL-8222WB (wide band) self-protection jamming pods was "quietly" signed in late October after IAI/Elta emerged as the lowest bidder for the two compatible systems.

The IAI/Elta products were selected over systems fielded by rivals Thales and Saab, which had also responded to HAL's December 2016 request for quotation for AESA radars and EW suites.