L&T Uses Advanced Automation Techniques in Tejas Mk1A Wings Production, Enhancing Quality and Speed in Jet Manufacturing

In a significant advancement for India's indigenous military aviation sector, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has successfully delivered the first set of wings for the Tejas Mk1A Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

This achievement marks a major milestone, demonstrating the increasing role of private industry in strengthening the nation's aerospace and defence manufacturing capabilities.

The delivery is crucial for accelerating the production of the advanced fighter jet for the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The wings of the Tejas Mk1A are constructed from state-of-the-art Carbon-Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP). This advanced composite material is essential for modern combat aircraft due to its exceptional strength, light weight, and high resistance to fatigue.

Each wing assembly, including its primary structural parts like skins, spars, and ribs, is fabricated entirely from these composites at L&T's dedicated facility in Coimbatore, underscoring a commitment to lightweight and durable design.

To achieve the precision required for a supersonic fighter, L&T has integrated a series of sophisticated manufacturing technologies.

The process uses Automated Fibre Placement (AFP), a robotic technique that lays down composite materials with extreme accuracy to create complex aerodynamic surfaces while minimising waste.

Following this, the components are cured in high-pressure industrial autoclaves, a process that creates exceptionally strong, dense, and flawless structures. To guarantee safety and reliability, every component undergoes rigorous ultrasonic and other non-destructive tests to detect any internal flaws.

A key innovation in L&T's production line is the extensive use of robotics for drilling operations, which has drastically increased efficiency. Each wing requires the precise drilling of approximately 8,000 holes for fasteners.

Manually, drilling a single hole in delicate composite material could take over 30 minutes to prevent damage. However, L&T's robotic system, which handles about 66% of these operations, has reduced the drilling time per hole to just one minute. This leap in automation ensures both rapid production and consistent quality.

This development provides a critical boost to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the lead integrator of the Tejas program. HAL is currently working to deliver 83 Tejas Mk1A aircraft to the IAF under a contract valued at ₹46,898 crore, which was signed in 2021.

L&T's ability to supply major components like wings on schedule strengthens the entire industrial ecosystem supporting the Tejas project.

It highlights the success of public-private partnerships in building a self-reliant Indian defence industry, a capacity that is more vital than ever with an additional procurement of 97 more Tejas Mk1A jets recently approved.

 

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[Hawkeye]

Very useful to speed up Tejas and other future jet production.

 

[sanket]

Nice. Once the supply chain/ecosystem stabilizes, production will pick up in the future. These are early days in the aero sector. Unlike even Western OEMs, who have a well-experienced, well-established ecosystem, production lines and skilled workforces still take time to deliver and complete customization.

 

[Parveen Gahlot]

More private players should also be inducted into the list for manufacturing Tejas and AMCA. This way, a full ecosystem will be established here as well.

 

[Apocalypse gupta]

This is a benefit of privatisation. They are quick to employ advanced tech, while government players have to wait for lengthy approvals.

 

[Phoenix Wilson]

In the future, if we are to get timely deliveries, HAL needs to take a backseat and these private companies should come to the fore.

 

[Dredd]

These are the hidden costs of using composites. ADA failed to keep jet weight in check and used extensive composites to hide its failure in design. Although composites give the advantage of lightweight build-up and reduced radar signature, the weight advantage was not utilized due to poor design, resulting in higher weight. The extensive costs of composites (3-5x) compared to metal, not to mention difficulties and higher effort taken to make structures out of composites, make it an expensive affair for a low-cost jet platform like Tejas.

 

[Sandeep]

It’s great that they are manufacturing the wings but they need to pick up the pace and do it quicker. We should also ensure that we 100% indigenously develop and manufacture it with indigenous raw materials and not any foreign expensive imports.

 

[Shiva Shankar]

Yes. This is a new technology know-how of L&T, which recently , few months before, was demonstrated in a test trials of some product, and it was impressive in terms of resource needs, speed, ability to implement or configure in lesser time and in more precise manner.

I was waiting, eventually that technology , will show its contribution in all products involving existing slow and costly composite material based components. In fact, this is something, Government should encourage and also encourage other companies also acquire this technology and make ti competitive and let it become a new standard in all its products involving composite material based components.

 

[SivaBalan Kumaravel]

It’s great that they are manufacturing the wings but they need to pick up the pace and do it quicker. We should also ensure that we 100% indigenously develop and manufacture it with indigenous raw materials and not any foreign expensive imports.

To facilitate this, more concrete orders are required. It is anticipated that once the next 97 Tejas MK1A order is finalised, further orders and subsequent capacity expansion will be secured.

 

[Madhusudan]

It's the technology provided by ADA and DRDO, not the invention of L&T, but it's good that they are involved to augment production.

 

[Sandeep]

To facilitate this, more concrete orders are required. It is anticipated that once the next 97 Tejas MK1A order is finalised, further orders and subsequent capacity expansion will be secured.

However we need HAL to utilise the maximum amount of jets it can work on which they aren’t currently doing. Expanding the manufacturing capacity should only be done if they use all of their production line and release the maximum amount of jets that it can manufacture.