Jodhpur: In what would be a relief for the Indian Air Force (IAF), at its wits’ end trying to beef up its depleting fighter strength, the first of the 83 TEJAS MK-1A combat aircraft ordered by the force is set to be delivered by October-end.

Sources in the defence establishment indicated that certain iterations (changes) that needed to be done with regard to Israeli software in use with the TEJAS have been completed and final trials are on.

However, the first TEJAS will be delivered with Category-B engines. Category-B refers to reserve engines which may have been used in the past or those that came in and remained unused as part of an earlier deal with American aircraft engine maker General Electric (GE) for the TEJAS series.

Brand new General Electric F404-IN20 engines will start coming in from November onwards as part of a revised schedule given by the engine maker after the issue of delay was raised by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during his trip to Washington last month.

Originally, state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was to start delivery of the new aircraft from March as part of a contract signed with the IAF in February 2021. However, the first flight of the aircraft took place only in March, which meant that more trials will have to take place before the aircraft is handed over to the IAF.

The delivery of the aircraft will be delayed by at least four months due to certain changes sought by the IAF including software iterations.

“The software iterations have been completed and the first aircraft will be delivered by October end,” a source said.

In 2021, there were apprehensions within the IAF about the timely delivery of the aircraft. The scepticism at that time was around how the TEJAS program had progressed over nearly four decades.

When the TEJAS program was first initiated in 1983, the plan was to release the first aircraft by 1994. But the prototype of the LCA TEJAS flew only in 2001 — 18 years after the project started.

It was in December 2013 that the TEJAS got initial operational clearance and in 2019, the IAF was given the first aircraft with final clearance. This was part of the 40 ordered by the IAF, four of which are yet to be delivered.

Originally, the MK-1A version was not supposed to be there. The variant was born through a compromise reached with the IAF in 2015 when Manohar Parrikar was the defence minister.

The original plan was to go straight for a TEJAS MK-2, but this meant structural changes to the fighter, which would take more time. Instead, the IAF decided to go in for MK-1A with four major improvements — advanced electronic radar, warfare communication systems, additional combat capability with Beyond Visual Range Missiles and improved maintenance features.

The IAF is looking at 97 more TEJAS MK-1A aircraft.

Interestingly, the IAF had this week proposed a public private partnership (PPP) model to set up more production lines for the TEJAS, as the force gets set to induct nearly 300 variants of the indigenous fighters over the next decade and half.

“…Issue is matching the production capability with our requirements. Our present orders of 83 TEJAS MK-1A, which will be followed up with 97 more, will definitely take a few years to fructify,” IAF chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhary had said addressing a press conference in Jodhpur.

He had added: “The way forward is to diversify production lines, have more public private partnerships or joint ventures with private partners to have multiple weaponry lines as well as multiple production lines.”

Agencies