HAL to Deliver 120 Tejas MkII Jets to IAF by 2036: Production to Begin from 2029 with 16 Jets Annually

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has announced ambitious plans to manufacture at least 120 Tejas MkII fighter jets by 2036, according to Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) CB Ananthakrishnan.

The timeline aligns with the potential retirement of the Indian Air Force's (IAF) aging Mirage-2000 and MiG-29UPG fleets, ensuring a smooth transition and maintaining the IAF's air combat capabilities.

HAL's production strategy involves a phased approach, beginning with an initial rate of 16 Tejas MkII jets per year from 2029 to 2030. This rate will progressively increase to 24 units annually by 2032-2033, with the entire production run expected to be completed by 2035-2036.

The Tejas MkII, an advanced iteration of the indigenous Tejas MkI, represents a significant leap forward for the IAF. It boasts enhanced capabilities, including greater range, payload capacity, and maneuverability. Additionally, it will feature state-of-the-art avionics and weapons systems.

The first Tejas MkII prototype is slated for rollout before March 2026, with its maiden flight planned for June 2026. A comprehensive two-year flight testing program will follow, culminating in late 2028. The successful completion of this rigorous testing phase will pave the way for finalizing a production contract with the IAF.

This ambitious production plan underscores HAL's commitment to strengthening India's indigenous defense capabilities and reducing reliance on foreign imports. The Tejas MkII is poised to play a pivotal role in modernizing the IAF's fighter fleet, ensuring its continued air superiority in the years to come.

 

[sanket]

Very Good News. If all goes well then By 2036 (220 Tejas MK1A+120 Tejas MK2) More than 300 Fighter jets will b added .plus some Jets From MRFA.

 

[Vaishak Upadhyaya]

Very Good News. If all goes well then By 2036 (220 Tejas MK1A+120 Tejas MK2) More than 300 Fighter jets will b added .plus some Jets From MRFA.

Don't be so happy. The HAL chiefs are known to talk big and do nothing. Hope that this is not the case this time around.

 

[Mithu Roy]

First produce Tejas mark 1a as per schedule then keep the vision for your successors.All CEOs have a penchant for vision to cover up their incompetence and hal is no different

 

[abhinav srivastava]

They also have plans to produce 4 prototypes for testing. A 2 year window is too short for testing. I think by 2026 they will declare that testing in 2years is not possible due to ...xyz reasons.

 

[NSR]

Wonderful news but as most posters here know that schedule will slip by a year or two for first prototype and many more delays based on how sub-assemblies gets developed specifically for Tejas Mk II.
IOC and FOC will be about 3 years away from first prototype taking to skies.

Nevertheless, it is indeed very good news for India.

 

[Avesh]

Great news, we need to make at-least 500 of both MK1A and MK2.

 

[AK S]

Very Good News. If all goes well then By 2036 (220 Tejas MK1A+120 Tejas MK2) More than 300 Fighter jets will b added .plus some Jets From MRFA.

It’s way too aggressive schedule even from global standards.

Developing a brand new plane in 5-6 years is a near impossibility.Neither HAL can nor IAF+MoD would move that fast.

Consider this - Dassault took nearly 5 years to implement all of India Specific Enhancements. Dassault could have done earlier too, but the point is testing and certification takes lot of time. And HAL is certainly not known for speed. They did show lot of promise in MK1A and finished mid life upgrade in 3 years. but then they had multiple LSPs and FOC planes to test the changes and certify them in parallel. Just to get to 2-3 samples for MK2, we are at least 5 years away and then testing and certification another 2-3 years. So 7-8 years from now is a given if we all work hard and smart.

And then we have IAF and MoD. Certainly not known for procurement efficiency. MRFA tender is running for 2.5 decades. They took nearly 3 years after RFP response to place Mk1A orders - For the first time, HAL managed first flight in that much time. Funny enough, both HAL and IAF reports into MoD.

I’d be very happy if Mk2 happens by even 2031. 2032-33 looks more realistic. Having said that, by then our economy would be over 10 trillion dollars and HAL alone will have annual capacity of about 24 Tejas. So 3-4 squadrons of MK2 by 2035 is a possibility.

 

[Radha Ramanan]

those who are familiar with flight testing will be surprised by the 2 year "tight flight testing " . announcement. Its just another tall claim by HALl officials misleading the gullible public. BY time the introduction in service happens the felloow who made this claim would have retired!
If you look at the western fighter flight test schedules like the similar fighter JA-39 .. first flight 1988 introduced in 1996. Rafale 1986 first flight , introduction 2001.So what do we have to learn from this.? The LCA mk2 is actually a brand new fighter regarding the FBW system due to the addition of the canards in the front, we have no experience in canard fighter design. Take for example the problems faced with the swedish JA-39 > They Had 3 crashes before they could even out the problems, this is in spite of the swedes having experience in designing and flying the older model ja-37 that had fixed canards and were quite familiar to what to expect. I would be happy if the test schedule be completed in 2030. Thats realistic. The above LCA mk2 test schedule has to be taken with a large pinch of salt

 

[Ranjeet Singh]

Till then India should ink deal with USA to make India specific (capable to operate over Himalayan heights, DB oldie ,Nyoma ) F-35A and F-35B for IAF and Indian Navy this deal will reduce gestation time of AMCA ! TEDBF and AMCA-MK-I must have same technologies ! 149+ AMCA-MK-1 should be made to replace Jaguars ASAP ! A new HAL plant should be set up to make 5th and 6th gen fighters and its engines !

 

[vin]

We are talking about the production of a 4.5 gen warplane when the chinese would be bringing in gen 6. Its time to bite the bullet and plan for gen 5 and gen 6. Make in India for fighter craft can planned for the long run, immediate requirements of the air force will have to met by off the shelf purchases. Unless this is done Indian Air force will be facing chinese fighters that will outrange, out maneuver , and without being detected simply annihilate us... TOT if possible can be obtained in parallel while procuring these fighters

 

[Andy S]

HAL no 1 in planning.

 

[Bharat007]

Nothing but failure awaits unless HAL is privatised.

 

[RalphRearden]

Lol, every time he keeps pushing the deadlines....as i have said numerous times.....IAF will receive its first squadron of 16-18 planes not a day before Dec 31, 2032.

 

[Sandeep]

We are talking about the production of a 4.5 gen warplane when the chinese would be bringing in gen 6. Its time to bite the bullet and plan for gen 5 and gen 6. Make in India for fighter craft can planned for the long run, immediate requirements of the air force will have to met by off the shelf purchases. Unless this is done Indian Air force will be facing chinese fighters that will outrange, out maneuver , and without being detected simply annihilate us... TOT if possible can be obtained in parallel while procuring these fighters

The Chinese jets are not actual stealth jets and their capability are much lower than what they claim. Also they can’t start a war because we have nuclear weapons and unless they want to destroy their own country they won’t start a war.

India is already developing a proper 5.5th generation jet with the AMCA and it will fly in a few years time.

 

[Sandeep]

While I wish this was possible the reality is that this will take a much longer time to test as it’s the first time that we are developing a jet of that size and with canards. So while it might take its first flight in a few years the production won’t start until at least 4-5 years. It takes a long time to make sure everything works properly and it’s safe for the pilots.

 

[Dredd]

Very Good News. If all goes well then By 2036 (220 Tejas MK1A+120 Tejas MK2) More than 300 Fighter jets will b added .plus some Jets From MRFA.

he is aiming for 2036... actual delivery will be delayed by average 5 years looking at HAL record. When whole europe, US and probably china will be having full scale 6th gen fighter induction Our IAF at the mercy for ada and hal will be inducting 4th gen LCA mk2(post 2032) which will be inferior to Rafale (2024) and EFT (2024).

 

[Dredd]

It’s way too aggressive schedule even from global standards.

Developing a brand new plane in 5-6 years is a near impossibility.Neither HAL can nor IAF+MoD would move that fast.

Consider this - Dassault took nearly 5 years to implement all of India Specific Enhancements. Dassault could have done earlier too, but the point is testing and certification takes lot of time. And HAL is certainly not known for speed. They did show lot of promise in MK1A and finished mid life upgrade in 3 years. but then they had multiple LSPs and FOC planes to test the changes and certify them in parallel. Just to get to 2-3 samples for MK2, we are at least 5 years away and then testing and certification another 2-3 years. So 7-8 years from now is a given if we all work hard and smart.

And then we have IAF and MoD. Certainly not known for procurement efficiency. MRFA tender is running for 2.5 decades. They took nearly 3 years after RFP response to place Mk1A orders - For the first time, HAL managed first flight in that much time. Funny enough, both HAL and IAF reports into MoD.

I’d be very happy if Mk2 happens by even 2031. 2032-33 looks more realistic. Having said that, by then our economy would be over 10 trillion dollars and HAL alone will have annual capacity of about 24 Tejas. So 3-4 squadrons of MK2 by 2035 is a possibility.

MK1a requirement were shared with HAL in 2016(in fact it, mk1a was proposed by HAL) and still they took more than 7 years to upgrade Mk1 to mk1a standard. whenever you question they have excuse rready, from funds, changing requirements to Covid and Ukraine war. Never ever they own up thier mess up. Still they haven't delivered a single Mk1a to IAF.
HAL is just bi=usy fooling people with unwanted projects like LIFT, TEjas MAXX, HLFT 42, etc. And unfortunately we have PSU stooges like alpha to even justify design flaw of Dhruv which first flew in 1992 and still having crrashes due to sub standard hardwarre.

 

[Aravind Raveendran]

Guess there is no word called Shame or Accountability in the dictionary of these people.

 

[Akshat]

It’s way too aggressive schedule even from global standards.

Developing a brand new plane in 5-6 years is a near impossibility.Neither HAL can nor IAF+MoD would move that fast.

Consider this - Dassault took nearly 5 years to implement all of India Specific Enhancements. Dassault could have done earlier too, but the point is testing and certification takes lot of time. And HAL is certainly not known for speed. They did show lot of promise in MK1A and finished mid life upgrade in 3 years. but then they had multiple LSPs and FOC planes to test the changes and certify them in parallel. Just to get to 2-3 samples for MK2, we are at least 5 years away and then testing and certification another 2-3 years. So 7-8 years from now is a given if we all work hard and smart.

And then we have IAF and MoD. Certainly not known for procurement efficiency. MRFA tender is running for 2.5 decades. They took nearly 3 years after RFP response to place Mk1A orders - For the first time, HAL managed first flight in that much time. Funny enough, both HAL and IAF reports into MoD.

I’d be very happy if Mk2 happens by even 2031. 2032-33 looks more realistic. Having said that, by then our economy would be over 10 trillion dollars and HAL alone will have annual capacity of about 24 Tejas. So 3-4 squadrons of MK2 by 2035 is a possibility.

Lets be honest to the facts when responding.

MRFA- IAF gave it's response way back in 2010/2011. It was HAL which failed to close the deal.

Mk1A - Again, the trainers from the original FOC standard Tejas are yet to be delivered. At the time of signing the deal, they were yet to deliver some FOC standard planes and 18 trainers (8 from old deal and 10 from the deal just signed). The new line of 8 planes had just been opened, which meant it would have taken some time for delivery. This means in 3 years HAL could have delivered a little more than 24 planes. And it had about that many planes to deliver (include 3 Mk1A as well). So IAF and MoD perfectly timed the deal, assuming a decent efficiency from HAL. It is HAL's fault again that they failed to deliver 13 of those trainers and 3 mk1a.

And no. HAL doesn't report to MoD. HAL is a private company, and reports to it's board. That board has nominees from the MoD/GoI.