Delays affecting the production of the indigenous fighter jet, Tejas, are likely to end. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has proposed a public-private partnership model to ensure additional production lines, not just for the Tejas, but also for other jets….

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh witnesses an aerial display during the ‘Tarang Shakti’ exercise in Jodhpur on Thursday. PTI

Delays affecting the production of the indigenous fighter jet, Tejas, are likely to end. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has proposed a public-private partnership model to ensure additional production lines, not just for the Tejas, but also for other jets. India needs to domestically produce some 400 jets over the next 15 years.

Separately, the problem of delay in engine supply for the Tejas Mark-1A version has been partially sorted. US firm General Electric (GE) that was to supply the F404 engines would start delivering two engines every month from November. The US firm had given a fresh timeline for the supply, sources said. During his visit to the US last month, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had taken up the issue of delay in the engine supply. General Electric was supposed to deliver 99 engines to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) starting March this year.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the multi-nation air exercise, ‘Tarang Shakti’, in Jodhpur, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari said the need was to match the production capability of the Tejas with the IAF requirements.

He said: “We need to diversify production lines, have more public-private partnerships or joint ventures with private partners”. The IAF Chief was responding to a query on how India could aim to export the Tejas when deliveries for even the Air Force were delayed.

The IAF had placed an order of 83 Tejas Mark-1A jets with the HAL. The delivery was scheduled to commence from March. So far, not even one plane has been delivered. The MoD wants the HAL to make 16 planes each year. The IAF Chief said: “Our order is of 83 jets. It will be followed with an order of 97 more and will definitely take a few years to fructify.” In future, the IAF plans to place orders of at least 120 Tejas Mark-2 jets and another 170 of the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft.