There has been ongoing concern over the steady decline in the number of operational squadrons, with the IAF banking on the 83 LCA jets ordered to fulfil the requirement.
The Ministry of Defence has constituted a high-level committee to address delays in the production and induction of India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk-1A, media reports quoting officials familiar with the matter. The five-member panel formation comes in the follow-up to Air Force (IAF) Chief AP Singh having flagged the delays in the deliveries of LCA aircraft.
There has been ongoing concern over the steady decline in the number of operational squadrons, with the IAF banking on the 83 jets ordered to fulfil the requirement.
The committee led by Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh has been tasked with identifying the bottlenecks in the LCA programme and recommending measures to quicken the production of the fighter jets. They have been given a month-long deadline to submit their report, officials said.
HAL had assured to start delivering LCA aircraft soon
Around two weeks ago, the manufacturer of the LCA Tejas, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) had assured it would soon start delivering the aircraft to the Indian Air Force with the technical difficulties now being resolved, amid reports of concerns raised by IAF chief AP Singh in this connection.
HAL Chairman and Managing Director D K Sunil said, “The delay is not simply attributable to just I would say laziness on the part of the industry.”
“There have been technical issues which have got sorted out. The concern of the Air Chief is understandable,” he told reporters here at the Aero India 2025 event. According to him, meetings have been held at different levels and HAL, a central PSU would soon be delivering the aircraft.
“We have now promised that we will have all the structures ready. We have conveyed this. We have had multiple meetings at different levels. We have conveyed this. We are building this. And once the engines are available, this will start rolling out. I think the concern is well understood. There is no doubt about that and as a team, all of us are focused. We will start delivering the aircraft,” he added.
Sunil’s response came amid reports of Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal AP Singh expressing some concerns over the alleged delay in delivery of Tejas to the IAF in a purported video
