Two Tejas Mark-1A jets expected by Sept-end, says Defence Secretary

Ending the suspense over delay in deliveries of the Tejas Mark-1A fighter jets, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh on Saturday said the first two jets may be delivered by September-end.

In February 2021, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) placed an order with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for 83 Tejas Mark-1A jets worth Rs 48,000 crore. Deliveries were scheduled to begin in March 2024, but not a single jet has been commissioned so far.

The Defence Secretary, while speaking at an event, said, “The intent is to provide enough visibility to HAL to perfect this platform.” Ten of the jets are ready and two engines have been delivered so far, he added.

“Hopefully, the first two of those (jets) are going to be delivered with weapon integration this September,” the Defence Secretary added.

Singh said he hoped HAL would be able to perfect the platform, integrate the radar and Indian weapons and make it a workhorse for the Air Force alongside the Sukhoi-30MKI.

On the ‘Make in India’ push in the defence sector, Singh said being self-reliant would help the country maintain its strategic autonomy.

“It is a strategic imperative for us to be self-reliant in order to maintain our strategic autonomy. The only way to achieve this is by ensuring that the bulk of our defence requirements are met within the country,” he said.

The top bureaucrat noted that India has now set a benchmark of spending 75 per cent of its capital expenditure domestically and stressed that foreign manufacturers must invest and produce in India to qualify for most of these orders.

The Defence Secretary added that he used to receive regular updates on developments, including events and any losses. “Thankfully, we hardly suffered any losses. Most of the losses were inflicted by us. We were confident that if the situation escalated, we would be able to escalate further, dominate and make them succumb,” he said.