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29-05-2025
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI: India’s Defence Minister has approved a framework for building the country’s most advanced stealth fighter jet, the defence ministry said on Tuesday, amid a new arms race with Pakistan weeks after a military conflict between the neighbors.
Indian state-run Aeronautical Development Agency, which is executing the program, will shortly invite initial interest from defence firms for developing a prototype of the warplane, envisaged as a twin-engine 5th generation fighter, the ministry said.
Militaries of nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan faced-off in four days of fighting this month, which saw use of fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery by both sides before a ceasefire was announced by US President Donald Trump.
It was the first time both sides utilized drones at scale and the South Asian powers are now locked in a drone’s arms race, according to Reuters’ interviews with 15 people, including security officials, industry executives and analysts in the two countries.
India will partner with a domestic firm for the stealth fighter program and companies can bid independently or as a joint venture, the defence ministry said in a statement, adding that the bids would be open for both private and state-owned firms.
In March, an Indian defence committee had recommended including the private sector in military aircraft manufacturing to shore up the capabilities of the Indian Air Force and reduce the burden on state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, opens new tab, which makes most of India’s military aircraft.
Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh has previously criticized Hindustan Aeronautics for slow delivery of light combat Tejas aircraft, a 4.5 generation fighter, which the firm blamed on slow delivery of engines from General Electric, opens new tab due to supply chain issues faced by the US firm.
Earlier, India’s state fighter jet maker Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), opens new tab said it understood why India’s air force was impatient over delays in delivering warplanes and would start rolling them out once General Electric, opens new tab supplied engines for them.
In a pre-scheduled press conference on Tuesday that was held a day after the head of the air force rebuked company officials, HAL Chairman D.K. Sunil said when asked about the delays; “the concern of the air chief is understandable. Of course, his squadron strengths are going down.”
“We have now promised that we will have all the structures ready,” Sunil said. “We are building this. Once the engines are available, this will start rolling out.”
The Indian Air Force’s fleet of mainly ex-Soviet aircraft has been operating with only 31 fighter squadrons compared with a target of 42, frustrating its officials given the country’s tense relations with neighbors China and Pakistan.
The Air Force has ordered 83 Mk-1A light combat aircraft from HAL, an advanced variant of the operational Mk-1 “Tejas”, with deliveries initially planned to start in February 2024 as part of a 364.68 billion rupees ($4.20 billion) contract. It plans to procure 97 more Mk-1As, which would take the total of the Tejas group of aircraft to 220 but deliveries have been repeatedly delayed, due in part to the slow arrival of engines from GE, which has been facing supply chain issues.
