After Air chief's rap on delays, HAL set to hand over Tejas Mk-1A this month

Days after Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh voiced concern over repeated delays in defence projects, sources said Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is set to deliver the first Tejas Mk-1A fighter jet from its Nashik facility by the end of June.

The Nashik line is HAL’s third Tejas production facility after two existing lines in Bengaluru, and is intended to accelerate the indigenous fighter jet programme that has fallen behind schedule due to multiple bottlenecks.

Delays in the supply of F404 engines from US-based GE Aerospace have pushed the Tejas Mk-1A programme over a year past its original timeline. The Indian Air Force, which signed a Rs 48,000 crore contract in February 2021 for 83 Tejas Mk-1A jets, was originally slated to receive the first aircraft by March 31, 2024.

“The timeline is a big issue,” Air Chief Marshal Singh said last week at the CII Annual Business Summit 2025. “So, once a timeline is given, not a single project that I can think of has been completed on time. So this is something we must look at. Why should we promise something which cannot be achieved? While signing the contract itself, sometimes we are sure that it is not going to come up, but we just sign the contract.”

Singh’s barbed remarks came nearly three months after he publicly rebuked HAL officials over persistent delays in Tejas Mk-1A deliveries. The Air Force has since urged HAL to expedite production and widen its private sector collaboration, particularly for key components like fuselages.

Each HAL line—Bengaluru and Nashik—has the capacity to produce up to eight aircraft per year, subject to engine availability.

Once flight trials are completed, the first Nashik-built Tejas Mk-1A will be formally handed over to the IAF, marking a key milestone in the indigenous fighter's production ramp-up.

The Air Force chief has stressed the importance of timely induction of new technologies into the military, especially in the context of rapidly evolving warfare paradigms involving drones and AI-enabled platforms.