Govt inks deal with HAL for 97 new Tejas Mk1A; previous order’s deliveries likely to begin next yr

There were no plans to have Mk1A version. However, compromise was reached between HAL & IAF in 2015 since original plan for getting Mk2 would've been time-consuming affair.

The deal is expected to generate 11,750 jobs per year over six years. The deliveries will start in 2027-28. | X/@SpokespersonMoD

New Delhi: The defence ministry Thursday signed a Rs 62,370-crore deal (pre-GST) with State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for procurement of 97 Tejas Mk1A fighter aircraft, including 68 single-seaters and 29 twin-seaters, along with associated equipment.

The delivery of these aircraft would commence during 2027-28 and be completed over a period of six years, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

It added that the aircraft will have an indigenous content of over 64 percent, with 67 additional items incorporated, over and above the previous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk1A contract signed in January 2021. 

The integration of advanced indigenously developed systems such as the UTTAM Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, Swayam Raksha Kavach, and control surface actuators will further strengthen the Aatmanirbharta initiatives, the statement added.

Together, the IAF has now ordered for more than 180 Tejas aircraft. 

The latest deal comes on the back of another signed in February 2021 for 83 Tejas MK1A, deliveries for which are yet to start.

Even though ThePrint had reported that the first two will be delivered at the end of October, sources indicated that this will not be so.

Sources said that the IAF is clear that they will accept a fully ready fighter. Sources also said that four distinct features that the IAF wanted from the Tejas Mk1A, which itself was a compromise reached in 2015 between it and the HAL, have not been completed yet.

This included integration and firing validity of specialised munitions, integration of Electronic Warfare suite among others.

Sources indicated that the delivery is likely to start from the first quarter of next year.

The actual deliveries were contracted to start from February, 2024 but engine delivery delays by American firm GE along with other issues have delayed the programme.

Incidentally, some within the IAF who feel that instead of more LCA MK1A, the focus should be on Tejas Mk2, the first flight of which was originally slated for in 2022 as per the understanding reached with the IAF in 2015. 

Then in January 2021, the then HAL chief R. Madhavan had officially said that the first flight would take place in 2023.

When the contract was signed in 2021, ThePrint had reported that the biggest concern for the IAF was the possibility of delay by the HAL based on the track record. 

The 2021 contract marked the rare high point for a programme that began way back in 1983 to build a new light combat aircraft as a replacement for Russian MiG-21s, which continue to fly despite being obsolete.

Incidentally, the new contract for Tejas fighters comes on the eve of MiG 21 Bisons being phased out finally. When the LCA programme was initiated in 1983, the plan was to release the first aircraft by 1994. However, the first prototype of LCA flew only in 2001 — 18 years after the project started.

In December 2013, Tejas got initial operational clearance and in 2019, the IAF was given the first aircraft with final operational clearance.

There were no plans to have a Mk1A version, but that was a compromise reached with the IAF in 2015 when Manohar Parrikar was the defence minister. 

The original plan for the Tejas Mk2 would have meant structural changes to the aircraft, which would have been a time-consuming affair. Instead, the IAF decided to go in for Mk 1A with four major improvements.

(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)