Exactly sir we should thank God that it fought in May 2025, not anytime before 2023. Because it was not battle ready, Meteor had issues. Airframes were in France, all 36 airframes underwent modifications in France
GE Engine Delays for Tejas MK1A,
Industrial Reality & not Amriki Sazish
>2016
GE delivered 65 of contracted F404-IN20 engines for MK1 program, with no scope of follow on orders, GE Considered Shutting down the prod line.
>2017-2020
GE shut F404-IN20 line, with tooling mothballed, suppliers released, & capacity shifted to other active engine programmes.
>2021
In Feb, deal signed for 83 Tejas MK1A, In August HAL placed an order for 99 F404-IN20 engines, Triggered industrial restart at GE with a rough timeline of 30-36 months.
>2022
Efforts started with re-engagament of suppliers, tooling validation & setting up certification processes.
>2023-2024
The restart effort faced issues due to post Covid supply chain disruption well documented with other OEMs as well, compounding this was exit of a critical South Korean supplier, due to which GE was forced to identify alternate supplier.
For new supplier GE had to transfer technical data, new tooling, and conduct full part & process qualification, due to all these issues The restart timeline was extended again.
>2025
In March, GE supplied 1st engine, it was an early prod stage which was constrained by Yeild losses, high rejection rates kept the production limited.
>2026
Till date 5 engines have been delivered by GE, & 5 more are delivered before 31st March, GE indicated that most complex part of the restart is near completion.
GE also informed that they have Increased Automation for testing & inspection part, the vendor base has been re qualified & stabilised.
From H2 GE will start delivering engines at contracted production rate to HAL, & from FY 2027, the prod. & delivery rate of engines will reach 28-30 engines per annum
Yes it was. It is. MK1 wasn't a well-optimised or technologically relevant aircraft when it achieved FOC or when MK1A was conceptualised. Consider the MK1A as the more real-world relevant, mature evolution of the MK1.
Much and more bas been said about timelines of major defence projects and their management. Beating a dead horse is a futile task.
Even the MK2 evolved from the original "Tejas with F-414" to a 17.5-ton MTOW fighter it currently is, much along the lines of Gripen-E. The MK2 design reached it's current form sometimes around 2018-19.
MK1A is a HAL project. MK2 and AMCA are ADA projects. Tejas MK1 stopped being an ADA project after it achieved FOC.
Aai ghalya , after being on defence fora for more than a decade & a half , you ask questions like a novice.
Without Mk1A there would've been no Mk2. The IAF would've most probably gone the Buy Global (aka import) route for a new SEF and ended up buying the Gripen-E.
Brother Mk2 and Rafale both are different kind of jets. I don't see Rafale affecting the Tejas Mk2 project in any significant way.Thanks All of you for Replying to my Question
Like Everyone ,I too wish the best for IAF but my worry is that
The Rafale " Question " has again come to the fore , I mean the Cost of 114 Rafales being discussed on Twitter As compared to Tejas MK 2
So somehow there is a fear that Neither MK 2 is getting completed soon and Nor the 114 Rafales acquisition will proceed because of Costs
And neighbors are having fun with our depleting Squadron strength
In case of delays, this GoI will likely buy some more Rafale off the shelf with limited offsets like it did in its 1st term.
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IAF always wanted to have two programs : TE & SE...200+ each of them & now it's Rafale & MK2 respectively , Both are required to complete different sets of operational requirements.Thanks All of you for Replying to my Question
Like Everyone ,I too wish the best for IAF but my worry is that
The Rafale " Question " has again come to the fore , I mean the Cost of 114 Rafales being discussed on Twitter As compared to Tejas MK 2
So somehow there is a fear that Neither MK 2 is getting completed soon and Nor the 114 Rafales acquisition will proceed because of Costs
And neighbors are having fun with our depleting Squadron strength
Worried about the wrong thing, I'd say. It's MK2 and Rafale for IAF, not either-or. Costs are not the problem. It's not a one-time payment, but spread over 10-odd years, and as such, easily affordable even considering other major upcoming acquisitions. MK2 will be a workhorse platform, cheaper to operate than Rafale or Su-30, keeping IAF's OpEx from going out of control.
Nope, not happening in the slightest. We won't get a similar deal from the US as we're getting from the French. Costs (procurement, training & ops) would be ruinously high for the kind of numbers we seek to operate. Plus, the Yanks a very fickle bunch. There'll be some or the other end user clause that'll be limiting (the kind which Finnish Prez alluded to recently) and the IAF/MoD won't bite.(unless ofc the Americans come in with the F-35
We need to buy 500 billion worth goods fro USA. And USA is open to export f35 to india. Yeas, we will purchase F35,hope it will come with APG85 radar.In case of delays, this GoI will likely buy some more Rafale off the shelf with limited offsets like it did in its 1st term.
France has a lot invested in this deal and they won't let it go the way of the Australian SSK deal (unless ofc the Americans come in with the F-35
I was just being witty! The Turks are being forced to return their S-400s as a pre-condition for rejoining the F-35 program. No way India's doing that, even if the US relented on ToT/customization issues.
Agreed! But Trump hasn't sanctioned us for Rus mil hardware coz we haven't made any big ticket purchases since the S-400, of which 2-sqds out of 5 haven't been delivered yet. Any other Russian hardware purchases can be categorised as "fleet sustainment" and not a shiny new purchase unlike Algeria's Su-57, so no sanctions there.
It won't be a stop gap purchase like 36 rafale of 2016. It will be a full strength purchase, 90+ F35 you can expect. We need to give respect the indo US trade deal, and i beleive this is the best thing in that agreement. My only wish is we should negotiate for APG85 Radar on F35.
The Americans fear Russia could glean classified RCS/comms frequency data on any F-35s operating in the vicinity of S400s. Ours would be no exception.
Both GOI & IAF have already rejected F-35s way back in last summer. A team of Lockheed Martin representatives was about to visit last year with full roadmap for F-35 acquisition. It also included 114 F-16Vs fully manufactured at Tata's plant. But post our Ops, we categorically said no. Thus the team cancelled their visit.
