The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) will start delivering Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk-1A fighter jets to the Indian Air Force from the first quarter of the new financial year, as it will get physical possession of the first of 99 F404-IN20 engines from the US-based manufacturer GE next month.
Top HAL sources said the first F404-IN20 engine goes through extra rigorous tests and certifications, which is why it will take a bit longer than the others that the GE will be sending one per month.
“Our conservative estimate is that we will hand over the first aircraft to the IAF from the Nashik facility in the first quarter of FY 2025-26 and the delivery of the rest should be smooth depending on availability of the engines from the GE,” said top HAL sources.
The LCA Mk-1A, which will be the mainstay of the airpower once entire induction is completed, is going through extra firing and electronic warfare trials to ensure that the fighters are delivered to the IAF in fully operational condition as desired by Chief of Air Staff Marshal Amar Preet Singh.
The IAF chief on a couple of occasions in the past, including at the Aero India 2025, had criticised the HAL for the delay in the delivery of LCA Mk-1A aircraft.
The HAL is using CAT-B engines, which are used engines, for undertaking trials and certifications for the Tejas.
The HAL had already displayed 4 LCA Mk-1As at the Aero India, 2025, show at Bengaluru and they had participated in the flypast as well. The HAL has another five of them in the flight line.
The GE on March 26 had announced the delivery of F404-IN20 engine that will power the LCA Mk-1A, ending the long delay which has subsequently pushed indigenous fighter jets’ acquisition timeline for the IAF which, otherwise, is operating through much depleted strength of aircrafts.
“We are working closely with our suppliers to ramp up production on parts and materials for the F404-IN20,” Shawn Warren, General Manager, Combat & Trainer Engines, GE Aerospace, had said in a statement to media.
HAL has also ramped up its capacity by putting third production line at Nashik to meet the acquisition demands of the IAF, which had signed a contract for 83 Tejas LCA Mk-1A in 2021 at an overall cost of ₹48,000 crore.
The GE has tweaked F404 engine for single-engine LCA Mk-1A fighter, offering the highest thrust within F404 family and a higher-flow fan, unique single-crystal turbine blades, and numerous special components.
The GE had delivered 65 F404-IN20 engines for the Tejas LCA from 2008 to 2016.
GE F-414 engine
For the GE F-414 engines, the negotiations between the HAL and GE technical team is expected to get over in a month on the 80 per cent transfer of technology (ToT) for manufacturing these engines in India for powering Tejas LCA Mk2.
A team of GE had visited India to carry forward negotiations on the engine so that a deal can be signed for production in India, taking forward the Memorandum of Understanding reached between HAL and GE in June 2023.
Though the design is of GE, engine parts are manufactured by others.
HAL sources stated that the GE has agreed that parts manufactured here will carry their certification, giving indications of kind of highly technical negotiations which are going on.