First Serially-Produced Tejas Mk-1A To Be Delivered By October End: Report

In a relief to the Indian Air Force (IAF), the first production Tejas Mk-1A jet, which has seen delays of several months, will be delivered by the end of October 2024.

The jet, initially contracted to be delivered by March 2024, only took its first flight that month, and now the delivery has been extended to October.

According to reports, the delay was due to General Electric (GE), Tejas's American jet engine manufacturer, not delivering its GE F404 engine on time. In fact, none of the engines have been delivered even now, due to what GE claims are lingering supply chain issues.

When Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited the United States last month (August), the engine delivery timeline was one of the primary issues discussed between the Indian and US delegations.

It is now believed that the new engines will resume delivery by November 2024, which will potentially resume the delivery of Tejas jets.

In the meantime, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is using Category-B GE F404-IN20 engines that were acquired under an earlier contract.

Category-B engines are those that are either kept as spares and reserves in the IAF and HAL inventory or were used during the Tejas development phase.

After the delays in engine delivery, (HAL started a software optimisation programme for the Israeli active electronically scanned array (AESA) EL/M-2052 radar, which will be equipped on half of the Tejas Mk-1A jets from the contracted 83.

HAL has completed this software change, and the final trials are ongoing. The remaining Tejas jets will be equipped with the indigenous Uttam AESA radar.