India inks $1 billion deal for 113 Tejas engines

NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: India on Friday inked an over $1 billion (Rs 8,900 crore) deal with US major General Electric (GE) for another 113 jet engines to power the much-delayed indigenous Tejas Mark-1A fighters, which may to some extent assuage the Trump administration amid the still raging tariff tensions between the two countries.

The delivery of the 113 new GE-F404 engines to defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) will take place in the 2027-2032 timeframe, which will add to the ongoing but also delayed supply of 99 such engines ordered under a Rs 5,375 crore deal inked in Aug 2021.




With the new engine deal being inked in Bengaluru, HAL chief D K Sunil exuded confidence about the delivery of single-engine Tejas Mark-1A fighters finally beginning to the IAF. “We have 11 Tejas aircraft ready, including four fitted with the new GE engines. We are moving towards certification, and the aim is to deliver the first 10 jets to IAF by the end of March next year,” he told TOI.

While the delay in the supply of the initial 99 engines was one of major reasons that hit the Tejas Mark-1A production, the jets have also been hobbled by pending trials of Astra beyond visual range air-to-air missiles, the advanced short-range air-to-air missiles (ASRAAM) and laser-guided bombs as well as their integration with the Israeli-origin Elta ELM-2052 radar and fire control system.

The IAF is keeping its fingers crossed. Down to just 29 fighter squadrons (each with 18 jets) when 42.5 are authorised, the force is banking upon the 180 `improved’ fourth-generation Tejas Mark-1A fighters to shore up its depleting numbers.

Pakistan already has 25 fighter squadrons and is slated to get at least 40 J-35A fifth-generation Chinese stealth jets in the near future. China, in turn, has more than four times the number of fighters, bombers and force-multipliers as compared to India.

The first contract for 83 Tejas Mark-1A fighters was inked in Feb 2021 for Rs 46,898 crore, while another 97 were ordered for Rs 66,500 crore on Sept 25 this year. Deliveries of the initial 83 jets, however, are yet to begin.

“Engines have the most lead time. Keeping that in mind this time, we started negotiations for the 113 new engines with GE even before we inked the 97 Tejas contract with IAF. So, we were able to close this deal so early,” Sunil said.

As for the Tejas weapon trials, the HAL chief said, “Results of the data from the trials involving Astra and ASRAAMs are being analysed. Next, during Nov and Dec, we plan to begin the bombing trials. If GE delivers 10 engines in time, we don’t see any reason for delay in handing over 10 aircraft to the IAF by the end of this fiscal.”

At present, HAL has four of the initial 99 engines, with the fifth slated to come later this month. As the supply stabilises, GE has promised to deliver 20 engines every year.

HAL, in turn, has stated it will scale up production to 20 Tejas per year, and then to 24-30 per year, with the third production line now fully functional in Nashik to add to the two existing ones at Bengaluru, apart from private sector supply chains.

Parallelly, HAL is negotiating the co-production of the more powerful GE-F414 engines in the 98 Kilonewton thrust class in India, with 80% of transfer of technology for around $1.5 billion, for the Tejas Mark-2 fighter.

“Six rounds of talks on the technical terms and conditions with GE have taken place till now, which will be followed by the commercial negotiations. HAL hopes to conclude all negotiations by March 2026,” a defence ministry official said.
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