Tejas aircraft delayed: The Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief AP Singh has raised concerns over the slow paced delivery of the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), talking about this concern he mentioned that the first batch of 40 aircraft ordered in 2009-2010 are yet to be delivered to the air force.
Another pointe raised by him is over the rapid speed by which China has been modernizing its air force, reported by India Today. At the 21st Subroto Mukerjee Seminar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said India must speed up production because its neighboring rivals, like China, are “investing heavily in their air force.”
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The Air Chief Marshal’s comments came after China recently tested two aircraft, believed to be sixth-generation stealth combat jets. No other country has reached this level yet. The remarks also follow reports from December suggesting Pakistan might soon buy fifth-generation stealth fighter jets from China, with deliveries expected in the next two years.
Tejas aircraft delayed
Speaking about the Tejas jet, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said that the first Tejas flew in 2001, but it wasn’t until 2016 that it was officially introduced. He mentioned that the Tejas project was started way back in early 80s, “We should go back to 1984, when we conceived that aircraft. The first aircraft flew in 2001, 17 years later. The induction started another 15 years later, in 2016. Today, we are in 2024. I do not have the first 40 aircraft also, so this is the production capability,” the IAF chief said, underlining that “technology delayed is technology denied”.
The Tejas is a multirole fighter aircraft developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). It is set to replace the old MiG-21 fighters, which had a high crash rate and were called “flying coffins.” The defence minister also mentioned that advanced manufacturing processes are necessary to speed up production. He strongly believes that involving private companies will bring competition and make sure that orders are not lost.
“I am very convinced that we need to get some private players in. We need to have competition. We need to have multiple sources available so that people are wary of losing their orders,” he reportedly stated, adding, “Otherwise, things will not change.”
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The air force is currently facing the shortage of fighter jets, with only 30 fighter squadrons when it should have been 42 and each of them squadrons should have 18 aircraft.
China’s rapid expansion in Air Force
China recently shocked the world by showing off two sixth-generation combat aircraft, which also came up in Singh’s speech. In comparison to India’s fifth-generation fighter jet is still being designed and developed. The Cabinet only approved the proposal to develop it last year, in March.
As per Business standard, IAF chief said, “As far as China is concerned, it’s not just about the numbers, even their technology is growing very fast. We just saw the recent flight of their new generation fighter.”
