Tejas Mark 1A jet makes maiden flight

Ajay Banerjee

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New Delhi, March 28

The Light Combat Aircraft Tejas Mark 1A fighter jet, an upgraded version of the existing Tejas jet, completed its maiden flight today, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) said.

However, the expected schedule of deliveries of the plane to the Indian Air Force (IAF) is not going as planned, sources said. The first jet was slated to be handed over to the IAF by the end of this month, which is not likely to happen. As per the contract signed in February 2021, deliveries were to commence in February 2024, which was later delayed to March-end. Six more jets are to be handed over the next fiscal. The aircraft will undergo more trials before it is formally handed over to the IAF.

“It was a successful sortie with a flying time of 18 minutes,” the HAL statement said quoting its Chairman and Managing Director CB Ananthakrishnan. The HAL achieved this significant production milestone with concurrent design and development amid major supply chain challenges in the global geopolitical environment, Anathakrishnan said.

The aircraft was piloted by Group Capt KK Venugopal (retd). In all, 180 such planes are to be supplied in two tranches. The first tranche is of the 83 such jets ordered by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in February 2021 under a Rs 48,000 crore order. The Defence Acquisition Council, the apex decision-making body at the MoD, had in November last year okayed the procurement of 97 more Tejas Mark 1A fighter jets. This is in addition to the 83 jets ordered in February 2021. The deal for 97 jets is expected to cost about Rs 1.15 lakh crore. The IAF already has 40 Tejas Mark1 jets.