Government-owned Hindustan Aeronautics will build 83 warplanes with politicians hoping to end the country’s dependence on imported military technology.
News of the homegrown fighter comes after India accused Pakistan of a two-fold increase in ceasefire violations.
India responded to allegations that it had rejected Pakistan’s “message of peace” by releasing statistics showing an alarming increase in incidents on the nation’s shared borders.
Indian Minister for Home Affairs said: “Pakistan has violated the ceasefire along the LoC (Line of Control) in Jammu and Kashmir 771 times until December 10 this year.
“The international border was violated 110 times till November this year.”
Branded the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) will be a “truly a fourth-generation fighter”.
The fighter jet will reportedly boast service-specific Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, aerial refuelling pods, self-protection jammers and improved avionics and core systems.
The £6billiion ($8billion) price tag is almost half the price of the £11billion ($15billion) a group of 105 LCA Mark 2s would have cost.
India attempted to order the Mark 2s but the deal is on shaky ground with military officials openly criticising the programme which is still in development.
A senior Indian Air Force official said: “LCA Mark 2 is a far-fetched vision. The service wants improvement on the existing LCA to address all issues of looms, improvement in performance, interchangeability, improved US-made GE 414 [engines], improved avionics and missiles to be fitted on it.”
Following tension at the frontier between the competing neighbours and frequent skirmishes continue in Kashmir Pakistan called for peace.
A Pakistan spokesman said: “India has responded to the letter and instead of accepting our message for peace, it has once again repeated old allegations of cross-border incursions and refused to stop violations.”
Donald Trump’s decision to highlight India as a key ally in the region led to worry in Pakistan with Islamabad praising to ignore the US strategy.
The American national security strategy calls India a “leading global power” which shares common goals “including combating terrorism and promoting peace and security throughout the world”.