NEW DELHI: The IAF, Army and Navy vice-chiefs took to the skies in indigenous Tejas fighters on Monday, in an `unprecedented joint endeavour’ aimed at underlining self-reliance in defence production as well as the growing integration among the armed forces ahead of the impending creation of tri-Service theatre commands in the country.
Air Marshal A P Singh flew the `lead single-seat Tejas fighter’, while Lt-General N S Raja Subramani and Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan flew in the twin-seat variant, during the ongoing multi-nation `Tarang Shakti’ exercise at Jodhpur.
“It was a landmark event. Their joint participation in the exercise demonstrates the growing focus on cross-domain cooperation, with land, sea and air forces working together to face modern challenges,” an officer said.
India is showcasing the homegrown single-engine Tejas during its largest-ever air combat exercise Tarang Shakti, in which 67 fighters and military aircraft from 10 countries and observers from another 18 are taking part. The aim is to strengthen India’s military interoperability and strategic partnerships across the globe.
Tejas is crucial for the IAF to make up its depleting numbers, grappling as it is with just 30 fighter squadrons when 42 are authorised to tackle China and Pakistan. IAF, however, has till now inducted only 35-36 of the first 40 Tejas Mark-1 jets ordered for Rs 8,802 crore due to delays by defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics(HAL).
There is also a major ongoing delay in the delivery timeframe of the next 83 Tejas Mark-1A jets to IAF, contracted from HAL under the Rs 46,898 crore contract in Feb 2021. A major reason for this is the delay in supply of GE-F404 turbofan jet engines, which currently power the jets, to HAL by US firm General Electric.
All this comes at a time when another Rs 67,000 crore contract for 97 more Tejas Mark-1A fighters is also being finalized. The Rajnath Singh-led Defence Acquisitions Council in Nov last year had given the preliminary nod or acceptance of necessity (AoN) for the acquisition of these 97 jets.
India and the US, of course, are now also conducting the techno-commercial negotiations for co-production of GE-F414 jet engines by General Electric and HAL for the Tejas Mark-II fighters in India, with 80% transfer of technology for around $1 billion.