Tejas fighter
The project to build the Tejas advanced fighter jet has stalled due to delays in the supply of engines from General Electric Company (GE) in the United States. The Indian Air Force is shocked by this delay as due to this delay, HAL will be able to deliver only 2-3 Tejas Mark-1A fighter jets to the Indian Air Force in 2025. India signed an agreement for 83 jets worth Rs 46,898 crore in February 2021.
HAL needs to equip the upgraded version of Tejas with advanced engines so that the aircraft can perform well. India has signed a deal with GE for 99 engines in 2021, but so far the engines have not been delivered on time. Therefore, the Indian Air Force had to adopt a new strategy. Due to this delay, the Indian Air Force had to continue testing with older spare engines. This not only affects combat capabilities but also delays military preparations.
Delivery will take place in March 2023
Deliveries of GE engines were originally due to start in March 2023, but they are now expected to be delivered from April 2025 after US company GE reported another year’s delay. Recently, Indian Prime Minister Modi and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh raised this issue as a priority during their visits to the United States. GE said the delay was due to supply issues at its Korean supplier.
Sources revealed that for the $716 million contract, HAL can impose a fine if it wants to and since this is a commercial contract, this possibility cannot be ruled out. However, the Department of Defense has not yet confirmed any fines against GE. And if we look at it from the perspective of GE, an American company, then this is a logistics issue, GE said it was experiencing problems in its supply chain with Korean suppliers.