Second Indigenous LA-5034 Tejas Mk1A Fighter Jet Takes Flight, Two Aircraft Expected for IAF by March 2025

The second Tejas Mk1A fighter jet, identified as LA-5034, has successfully completed its first flight in Bengaluru, marking a significant milestone in India's indigenous aircraft development program. This achievement underscores the progress being made by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in manufacturing these advanced fighter jets for the Indian Air Force (IAF).

HAL is reportedly on track to deliver the first two Tejas Mk1A aircraft to the IAF by March 2025, fulfilling its commitment to meet the IAF's delivery schedule. This development follows the successful maiden flight of the first Tejas Mk1A, further demonstrating the program's momentum.

The Tejas Mk1A boasts several improvements over its predecessor, the Tejas Mk1, including an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, enhanced avionics, beyond visual range (BVR) missile capabilities, and upgraded electronic warfare systems. These enhancements collectively provide the IAF with a more capable and versatile fighter jet, crucial for modern air combat scenarios.

The successful flight of LA-5034 not only highlights HAL's progress in production but also emphasizes the IAF's dedication to strengthening its fighter squadrons. With India facing regional security challenges, the timely induction of these advanced aircraft is of paramount importance. The Tejas Mk1A is poised to play a vital role in replacing the aging fleet of MiG-21s and bolstering the IAF's operational readiness.

This project's advancement aligns with the IAF's goal of increasing its squadron strength to the authorized level, which is currently below par. Moreover, the Tejas Mk1A, with its increased indigenous content, supports India's broader strategic objective of self-reliance in defence manufacturing under the 'Make in India' initiative. The Tejas program is a testament to India's growing aerospace capabilities and its commitment to strengthening national defence.

 

[sanket]

Both of these Tejas MK1A jets are likely to be delivered with reserve engines if GE fails to deliver the engine by March 2025, which is the fifth deadline from GE. Though it will be handed over to the IAF, with reserve engines it will have limitations.

 

[Invincible Indian]

If any small scale war or air skirmish broke out in coming years, HAL & GE would be most abused by countrymen for late deliveries 🧐🥴

 

[abhinav srivastava]

Nice. What production rate are they targeting this year?

 

[Chandrakanth Shetty]

Within next 3 to 4 year we can seeatlast 250 new new fighter jets in sky

 

[SK]

Slow & Steady wins the race.

At present the production rate isn't up the standards thatare required but with time these production lines will insure India's position an Aerospace power.

 

[WarTech]

Slow & Steady wins the race.

At present the production rate isn't up the standards thatare required but with time these production lines will insure India's position an Aerospace power.

What would happen if we are in the middle of a war before the production 'picks' up? Loss of territories? Slowness never wins the race. Being steady does. HAL is slow but never steady.

 

[Akshat]

Need to know numbe of airframes readied by HAL. Number of engines delivered by GE = Tejas Mk1A delivered in 2025-26. Most likely.

Well that number is 2 at max. They are yet to deliver the 8 Mk1 trainers so no extra airframes are ready as of now.

 

[Akshat]

Slow & Steady wins the race.

At present the production rate isn't up the standards thatare required but with time these production lines will insure India's position an Aerospace power.

Lol...we have been waiting for that to happen for a decade now. Almost. And the speed keeps decreasing somehow. Even a snail is jealous of HAL at this moment.

 

[SK]

Lol...we have been waiting for that to happen for a decade now. Almost. And the speed keeps decreasing somehow. Even a snail is jealous of HAL at this moment.

The engine related problem isn't something that HAL can do anything about.

Either invest in Indigenous Aerospace projects or go for the foreign option to stay dependent upon Foreign Nations.

India's Choice & like every choice there are pros & cons.

 

[Akshat]

The engine related problem isn't something that HAL can do anything about.

Either invest in Indigenous Aerospace projects or go for the foreign option to stay dependent upon Foreign Nations.

India's Choice & like every choice there are pros & cons.

Bro, why always skip the main question? Engines for the original 40 jets had been delivered in 2020 na? Where are those 40 jets? What's the excuse for that? And before you say that the jets are delivered, please refer to IAF chief's statement recently where he specifically said that they haven't been delivered.

So yeah, India's choice to shower money on HAL and DRDO scientists is backfiring badly. But it seems this choice has no pros and only cons.

 

[obiwankenubi jedi]

Great news ! So the deliveries will begin soon then in 2025. good start to the year.

so at this rate we will complete Tejas mk1a deliveries of 83 (+ possibly 97 more years if we place the order by 2030) by 2040 !

congratulations to GE and HAL ! And to Govt, IAF and MOD too !

 

[LookMoo]

Nice. What production rate are they targeting this year?

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has set a target to deliver 24 Tejas Mk-1A fighter jets annually from the 2025-26 timeframe. This goal was mentioned by HAL's chief, C B Ananthakrishnan, with an ambition to potentially increase this to 30 jets per year once they streamline the supply chain, 🙂 will never happens.

Defence expert Col. Squirdit Singh has highlighted that the primary bottleneck in the delivery of Tejas Mk1A fighters is the issue with GE engines, particularly the challenges associated with localizing and producing jet engine components in India.

 

[siva saba]

Atlast light at the tunnel. Hope so called engine partner doesn't ditch us and deliver all engines as promised

 

[abhinav srivastava]

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has set a target to deliver 24 Tejas Mk-1A fighter jets annually from the 2025-26 timeframe. This goal was mentioned by HAL's chief, C B Ananthakrishnan, with an ambition to potentially increase this to 30 jets per year once they streamline the supply chain, 🙂 will never happens.

Defence expert Col. Squirdit Singh has highlighted that the primary bottleneck in the delivery of Tejas Mk1A fighters is the issue with GE engines, particularly the challenges associated with localizing and producing jet engine components in India.

I think someone pointed out that
30 was an incorrect number. Probably next they would move up to either 8 or 16 per year. They want to produce Tejas Mk1A till the time Tejas Mk2 is ordered.

 

[Ajay]

India should accept that GE is not going give the engines. Neither 404 nor 414.

 

[Enforcer]

Very happy for the news!. I don't want MK2,MK3,TEDBF, etc etc. Cancel all those and focus on AMCA only.

JUST MASS PRODUCE MK1A!!!! 300+

Do what America did back in the days to really improve military industrialization. America in many sectors had multiple private companies build the same exact product in order to cut down the production time and provide jobs in multiple states and helped kickstart private companies towards defense manufacturing.

We need to do that. Adani, ambani, tata, L&T, Mahindra etc etc. Technically HAL is public company so GOI owns the blueprints and tech. They can give those to all those private companies without approval to HAL. We should have a fixed per unit buying price, who ever can meet that price and show proper quality control measures and promise to invest in R&D from the profits.

 

[Enforcer]

India should accept that GE is not going give the engines. Neither 404 nor 414.

GE's main HQ was in my hometown before it moved to Boston. I am still friends with some of the people ive met. They are legitimately having issues and trust me, they want the money and the business. Its really hard to find new suppliers for certain parts and being a very secret tech, its not easy to just find a new supplier.

 

[Preet]

GE's main HQ was in my hometown before it moved to Boston. I am still friends with some of the people ive met. They are legitimately having issues and trust me, they want the money and the business. Its really hard to find new suppliers for certain parts and being a very secret tech, its not easy to just find a new supplier.

Yeah, the issue was the IAF ordered new jets in 2021 when the production line for GE-404 already closed after COVID. This is a serious issue with our forces: they always order piecemeal and never commit to a bigger number upfront. Like we all know that we need 300+ Tejas Mk2 (250 jets is just a mere replacement of Mirage, Jaguars, and MiG-29s), and we need 350-450 AMCA at least by 2040. We need mass production of these jets. We all know...EVERYONE. But what does the IAF say? "We want 6 squadrons, 100 AMCA." These people are ridiculous on their own. Blame has to be shared between the GoI, IAF, and DRDO/HAL. Stupid are those people who tend to blame only one of them. They are equal culprits in this mess.

 

[swatkats_razor]

Yeah, the issue was the IAF ordered new jets in 2021 when the production line for GE-404 already closed after COVID. This is a serious issue with our forces: they always order piecemeal and never commit to a bigger number upfront. Like we all know that we need 300+ Tejas Mk2 (250 jets is just a mere replacement of Mirage, Jaguars, and MiG-29s), and we need 350-450 AMCA at least by 2040. We need mass production of these jets. We all know...EVERYONE. But what does the IAF say? "We want 6 squadrons, 100 AMCA." These people are ridiculous on their own. Blame has to be shared between the GoI, IAF, and DRDO/HAL. Stupid are those people who tend to blame only one of them. They are equal culprits in this mess.

Once burnt, twice shy. Probably the forces got burnt so bad by the HF-24 Marut episode that they don't trust HAL to deliver on large orders. And HAL, on their part, have over the years proven themselves to be unreliable suppliers.

The problem is, the government doesn't want to explore beyond HAL. Probably no other company in India has much experience with aeronautical development.

 

[Shiva]

Now, all processes, resources involved, etc etc are very clear what to do.
Will work upon developing these systems by removing and reusing same engine to complete remaining things. Little trickly, tedious but have no other option, because of intentional delay from GE.

But R&D Team, should not stop here.
They have to work upon, making aircraft robus enough to replace one engine by other without any major changes in rest of the aircraft.

Just like how, high fly testing facility in Russia, has the ability to keep any sort of engine with it, our aircraft design has to be modified to keep any engine.
Robustness in replacing engine by other available, is a very effective thing during long term war scenarios.
This will also ease pressure of engine dependency making any engine manufacturing forces from indulging the similar kind of tactics what is currently used by the GE.
Also, this paves way to use Kaveri.

 

[Preet]

Once burnt, twice shy. Probably the forces got burnt so bad by the HF-24 Marut episode that they don't trust HAL to deliver on large orders. And HAL, on their part, have over the years proven themselves to be unreliable suppliers.

The problem is, the government doesn't want to explore beyond HAL. Probably no other company in India has much experience with aeronautical development.

There is no competition, you are absolutely right.

But dragging Marut into this conversation makes less sense, brother. Because contrary to your opinion, I can say that HAL has license-manufactured 650+ MiG-21s, 150 MiG-27s, 120 Jaguars, 250 Su-30MKIs... so terming HAL as an unreliable supplier (and hence the IAF not placing big orders) sounds stupid.

Similarly, they have produced probably 1000s of engines, 500+ helicopters, trainer aircraft, rockets for ISRO... I mean, it's countless stuff that they have done so far.

So please think before you speak. I am also in favor of an overhaul of HAL like OFB because these guys have too many verticals and way too much workload for a government agency.

 

[Sandeep]

If this is true then it’s better late than never. We need to increase the productivity rate of HALs employees, increase the production rate and capacity.

 

[Gajanan Hirde]

If any small scale war or air skirmish broke out in coming years, HAL & GE would be most abused by countrymen for late deliveries 🧐🥴

Even Minister of Defense

 

[Gajanan Hirde]

Why government putting spanner in the wheel of all purchases? Either we are testing or delaying. No concrete plan for engines, nothing for MRFA, nothing for Subs. In the event of any incursion we well see the fate like 1962