Amid GE’s delayed engine deliveries, PMO reviews Tejas progress

New Delhi: Amid General Electric’s failure to supply the F-404 engines to the HAL on time, a top official from the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday received a briefing from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on the current status of the Tejas LCA Mk-1A, whose delivery to the IAF is delayed in the absence of the engines from the US major.

P K Mishra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, was shown six LCA Mk-1A fighters and two LCA Mk-1A trainers.

“At the LCA Tejas Division, he reviewed the progress of the LCA Tejas Mk 1A programme and was briefed on the current production progress. HAL showcased six LCA Mk 1A fighters and two LCA Mk 1 trainers during the visit,” HAL said in a statement.

The eight aircraft, sources told DH, were fitted with some other test engines and will be replaced by the GE F-404 IN engines as and when they come.

After a two year gap, GE has begun supplying the engines from this year but delivered only one so far. Sources said two more would come this month and the company promised to deliver 12 engines by December 2025 and 20 from next year.

In 2021 GE signed a $ 716 million contract with HAL to supply 99 F-404 engines to HAL for Tejas LCA-Mk-1A. The supply was to start from April 2023, which did not happen.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh took up the issue with his US counterparts multiple times. In his last conversation with the US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth earlier this month, he once again flagged New Delhi’s concerns and requested Hegseth to fast-track the delivery.

The PMO official’s visit comes a few weeks before India and USA are to renew their ten-year defence cooperation agreement for which the US Defence Secretary may visit India later this year.

Mishra was given a tour of the LCA Mk 2 hangar at the Aircraft Research & Design Centre, followed by a visit to the LCA Tejas Assembly Hangar and Aerospace Division, according to the HAL statement. He was also shown a range of indigenous platforms including the Prachand Light Combat Helicopter, Light Utility Helicopter, Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter and Hindustan Turbo Trainer (HTT 40).

At the aerospace division, Mishra was received by V Narayanan, chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation, who briefed the PMO official on HAL’s selection as the manufacturer of the small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV).