More assembly lines needed on Tejas LCA, says IAF chief; HAL looks at fresh deadline for deliveries

Jodhpur: Even as Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) looks at a fresh deadline of 2024-end to supply the first Tejas LCA Mk1A to the Indian Air Force (IAF), Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari on Thursday said the aviation major needs to multiply its assembly lines to match the growing demand for the home-grown fighter jet.

“The issue is matching up the production capability with our requirements. Our present orders (83 LCA Mk1A contracted to HAL plus 97 tendered) will definitely take a few years,” Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said here at the conclusion of Exercise Tarang Shakti, the first multinational air exercise hosted by India after six decades.

“The way forward is to diversify the production lines, have more public private partnership or joint ventures with private partners to have multiple production lines. This is the way to catch up with our requirement,” he said.

The comment from the Chief of the Air Staff comes at a time when HAL is struggling with the delivery of the first batch of LCA Mk1A to the IAF.

The delay has been caused primarily due to General Electric (GE)’s failure to supply the engines in time.

Sources said the issue was taken up by the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during his recent trip to the US, after which GE set a deadline of November to deliver the first set of engines.

HAL will take about a month to ready the first LCA Mk1A for delivery after receiving the engines. The initial plan is to deliver two aircraft in a month and gradually raise the production numbers.

HAL has three production lines with a capacity to manufacture 24 aircraft in a year.

Sources said the company would also complete its previous commitment of supplying trainer versions of the first generation LCAs in this fiscal.

While four twin seaters have already been supplied, the other four will be delivered in the next few months.

In April, the Ministry of Defence issued a tender to HAL to procure 97 Tejas LCA at an approximate cost of about Rs 65,000 crore to boost the IAF’s squadron strength.

This comes three years after the ministry placed a Rs 47,500 crore order for the supply of 83 Tejas LCA Mk1A.

Along with the domestic orders, HAL is also pushing the Tejas LCA in the export market. Egypt is one of the markets that the company is looking at currently.

The complications surrounding the delivery of the LCA are also taking place at a time when the IAF squadron strength is steadily going down due to the retirement of legacy jets like the MiG 21. The last two sqauadrons of MiG 21s will be phased out by 2025.

Phase-II of Tarang Shakti saw participation of 28 nations—seven with their air assets and 21 as observers. Phase-I, meanwhile, took place at Sulur in Tamil Nadu last month.