New Delhi: A suspected brake failure on a Tejas fighter after landing at a forward base caused the aircraft to run off the runway into a ditch earlier this month. The pilot of the single seater aircraft was safe but sustained injuries in the accident.
The IAF, so far, has remained mum on the serious accident which has led to the grounding of the Tejas fleet for safety checks.
Sources in the defence and security establishment said the accident took place on 7 February at a forward base.
It was not immediately clear whether the pilot had managed to eject but sources said he was safe.
However, it is a possibility that the aircraft could be written off due to damages on the airframe.
The lost aircraft is from the lot of 20 Tejas in Initial Operational Clearance (IOC), and 20 in Final Operational Clearance (FOC) that were ordered by the IAF.
Incidentally, HAL is yet to deliver two of the remaining order of eight Tejas trainer aircrafts as well—an order placed in 2010.
The accident came even as the IAF awaits the delivery of the Tejas Mk1A, 180 of which have been ordered so far with deliveries running behind schedule by two years.
This is the third Tejas aircraft to be lost since induction, two were wrecked in crashes.
The fighter jet had faced its first crash near Jaisalmer in March 2024, when the aircraft crashed while coming back from a firepower demonstration. The pilot had managed to eject successfully.
The second crash happened in November 2025, when the fighter jet was involved in an aerobatic display at the Dubai Airshow. The tragic accident cost its pilot, Wing Commander Namansh Syal, his life.
(Edited by Niyati Kothiyal)