by Girish Linganna

The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) TEJAS has made headlines in India yet again. It is not a cause for joy, though. This time, the TEJAS MK-1A is in the news because officials from the public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) have told media persons that only one aircraft is expected to be handed over to the Indian Air Force by the end of July.

The original contract for these combat aircraft, signed back in February 2021, had stipulated that three TEJAS MK-1A planes would be delivered to the IAF by February 2024. In March this year, HAL said the deliveries would happen in mid-2024. The contract, worth roughly ₹43,000 crore, was for 83 aircraft. Right now, HAL has surpassed two deadline extensions and is struggling to deliver the first one. The delay has been chalked up to supply chain issues and trouble with deliveries of the F404 engine made by US-based General Electric.

The incident, once again draws to the fore the long timelines and delays the TEJAS project has struggled with.

A History of Delays

The TEJAS project timeline has been notoriously protracted. The project was first sanctioned in 1983 to replace the aging Soviet-origin MiG-21 fleet that India was then operating. The next big step came a decade later, when the Full-Scale Engineering Development (FSED) program, aimed to demonstrate key technologies before building operational prototypes, was sanctioned in April 1993. Then, it took over seven years for the first prototype, Technology Demonstrator-1 (TD-1), to take flight in January 2001.

Significant milestones were few and far between. It was in 2015 that the TEJAS received Initial Operational Clearance-II (IOC-II), with the first squadron becoming operational in 2016. That development came just months after reports that the IAF inducted the aircraft out of necessity, despite HAL’s inability to resolve critical issues. The induction was due to the IAF’s urgent need for lightweight fighters for air defence. Another reason was the necessity to sustain the TEJAS program.

In 2015, then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had cited several reasons for the delays. Building state-of-the-art technologies from scratch, unanticipated technological complexities, lack of critical components and inadequate production facilities at HAL featured prominently in his statement.

Persistent Quality Issues

But it was not just that. There were other challenges that contributed to the delays. One such obstacle stands out quite prominently. The Kaveri engine project, which aimed to develop an indigenous engine, ended in failure after three decades of time, effort and a reported expenditure of over ₹2000 crore. Despite developing nine prototype engines and four core engines, the Kaveri powerhouse could not be integrated into the TEJAS, forcing reliance on American GE F404 engines. In the past, as in the present, delays in GE’s engine deliveries have historically impacted TEJAS’s production timeline.

Then, there were a myriad of quality issues that HAL has had a tough time handling. TEJAS faced significant criticism from the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) in 2015, which identified 53 significant shortfalls in the MK-1 version, reducing its operational capabilities and survivability. The CAG report also highlighted the lack of a trainer version, adversely affecting pilot training. Around the same time that this report came out, the IAF grounded the TEJAS fleet due to issues with the landing gear observed across prototypes and limited series production (LSP) aircraft.

Cost of Delays, Quality Issues

The prolonged 33-year timeline for the TEJAS project is alarming. Still, some have argued that such lengthy timelines are not out of the ordinary for high-tech aircraft developed from scratch.

That would be understandable had HAL taken its time to produce a low-cost, high-quality marvel -- a hallmark of Indian scientific innovation. However, not only did the TEJAS project end up with no indigenous engine, it has also seen multiple cost overruns and quality problems.

The CAG’s 2015 report also pointed out the financial and operational impact of the TEJAS delays. It stated that the IAF had to resort to upgrading its MiG-Bis, MiG-29, Jaguar and Mirage aircraft at a cost of  ₹20,037 crore and defer the phasing out of the MiG-21 fleet due to extended delivery timelines of the TEJAS.

Around 2016, HAL’s decision to commence work on the MK-1A variant -- an advanced and more challenging iteration -- without fully addressing the root causes of delays and quality issues raised concerns. The aim of working on this advanced iteration was partly to fill the gaps left by previous flaws and to catch up with the latest technology. That would have helped smoothen out some of the issues HAL was having with the TEJAS project. However, the unresolved obstacles threw a wrench in those plans.

Will This Saga End?

The picture may look bleak. However, there is an abundance of hope for the TEJAS program. HAL officials, while acknowledging these supply disruptions and delays, have expressed optimism about accelerating production once deliveries commence. The plan is to eventually ramp up production to 18 aircraft per year, with aspirations of reaching 24 aircraft annually across three manufacturing lines.

If the HAL can overcome its persistent supply chain and quality control issues and leverage its extensive experience, a resolution would be in sight. The initiative, intention and support from government is strong. The scientific capability within India is present. And, indeed, TEJAS still has the potential to become a cornerstone of India’s indigenous defence capabilities.

This means that the right gears are in the right places. What we look forward to now is how they turn together in harmony to finally bring the TEJAS program to its full potential, delivering a robust, reliable and proudly Indian-made combat aircraft to the nation’s defence forces.

The author of this article is a Defence, Aerospace & Political Analyst based in Bangalore