Bengaluru: State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is flying additional sorties of the Tejas-Mk1A to resolve problems in integrating the aircraft’s radar and missiles, its chairman and managing director, Ravi Kota said.
He said HAL was not seeking any relaxation of the services qualitative requirements (SQRs), the technical benchmarks the Indian Air Force (IAF) has set for the fighter. The jets would be handed over only after they met every specification committed to the services, he said.
Deliveries are expected to begin by the end of the current financial year, which closes on March 31, 2027, according to the HAL chief.
The pending work centres on the active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and the final testing of weapons. Ravi K said an AESA radar had never flown on the Tejas platform before, which had made the process longer than expected. He described the remaining tasks as final-stage corrections.
HAL has 27 airframes and 10 engines ready, he said. GE Aerospace of the United States has indicated it will supply 17 engines, but Ravi K did not commit to a delivery figure for March 2027, citing uncertainty over engine supply. HAL has also begun approaching GE's tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers directly to identify bottlenecks.
The defence ministry has ordered 180 Tejas-Mk1A jets from HAL. A ₹48,000 crore contract for 83 aircraft was signed in February 2021. A second deal, for 97 jets worth ₹62,370 crore, followed in September 2025.
Deliveries were originally due to begin in March 2024. The delay has been linked mainly to the supply of F404 engines from GE. HAL has said it expects to deliver all 180 aircraft by 2032-33.
