Not confident of HAL: IAF chief AP Singh slams delays in delivery, upgrades to Tejas aircraft

Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh has said his confidence in defense Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) continues to erode over its failure to fix delays in delivery and upgrades to the light combat aircraft Tejas.

"You have to alleviate (our) worries and make us more confident. At the moment, I am just not confident of HAL, which is a very wrong thing to happen," Singh said in a video shot on Feb 10, coinciding with the start of Aero India 2025 in Bengaluru.

"I can tell you (HAL) what our requirements and worries are," he is heard saying, purportedly referring to the PSU. His remarks questioning the PSU's efficiency have stirred a row.

Delays due to sanctions clamped after 1998 nuclear test: HAL

HAL assured it will soon start delivering the airplane to the Indian Air Force with the technical difficulties now being resolved.

HAL Chairman and Managing Director D K Sunil said, "The delay is not simply attributable to just I would say laziness on part of the industry."

"There have been technical issues which have got sorted out. The concern of the Air Chief is understandable," he told reporters at the Aero India 2025 event.

Although this isn't the first time the IAF chief has slammed HAL over not adhering to timelines, his remarks questioning the defense PSU's efficiency have stirred controversy.

HAL attributed the delays to sanctions clamped on India after the 1998 nuclear tests. Sunil said the PSU would catch up with the timelines set for the project, initiated in 1984, and the additional orders it is anticipating.

HAL, which came in for criticism from previous IAF chiefs too, said in a statement on Feb 11 it was confident of "delivering at least 11 Tejas-Mk1A aircraft to IAF by March-end". This is part of an 83-aircraft contract. Many people associated with the project have hinted that HAL views the aircraft as the Aeronautical Development Agency's baby.

To a question about repeated criticism against HAL leadership, Sunil said, "I have to put it in context. You know that we (India) faced sanctions after our nuclear test in 1998, so we had to build things from the ground up.”

He said technical issues had been resolved. "We have promised that we will have all these structures ready. And we have conveyed this during multiple meetings at different levels," he said.

He said HAL was pushing American firm GE to consider an 80% transfer of technology (ToT) deal for the GE-414 engine that will power the upgraded variants of the Tejas, and probably India's fifth-generation aircraft AMCA, which is under development.

Sunil said HAL had seen significant growth in its order book, which stands at more than ₹1.3 lakh crore as of Dec 2024, thanks to several major contracts in the past year, including orders for 12 Su-30MKI aircraft for IAF, 240 AL31FP engines, and multiple helicopter orders for various defense forces.