With viral visuals of the Tejas IA fighter taking a nosedive before blowing up in a plume of smoke during a demonstration at the Dubai Airshow on Friday couldn’t have come at a worse time—for the Indian Air Force (IAF), for the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and for the country as a whole.
The single-engine, multi-role combat, delta wing fighter was giving a demonstration of its capabilities and prowess at Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport.
An Indian Air Force Tejas fighter jet participating in a display at the Dubai Air Show crashed on Friday afternoon. The HAL-built aircraft went down around 2:10 pm local time while performing an aerial manoeuvre before a large audience.
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First, the death of Wing Commander Namansh Syal is a huge loss. Fighter pilots in demonstration shows in a brand new aircraft are among the most skilled ones, having demonstrated their flying prowess and mental abilities in many ways over time. While machines can be replaced, the loss of a skilled fighter pilot is irreplaceable.
Second, the state-owned HAL, which is making the long-delayed Tejas LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) for the IAF—is in deep and troubled waters.
Conceptualised in the 1970s as an indigenous fighter to replace the IAF’s aging MiG 21 fleet, Rs 560 crore was first set aside in 1983 for its development. Later the amount was increased to Rs 10,400 crore. But it was only in 2001 that the first test flight took place.
In February, HAL was in the news for the wrong reasons after a rebuke by IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh went viral after being accidentally recorded at the Aero India show at the Yelahanka IAF base in Bengaluru.
The IAF chief was heard telling a few HAL officials: “I can only tell you what our requirement and our worries are. You have to alleviate those worries and make us more confident. At the moment I am just not confident of HAL, which is a very wrong thing to happen… I find that HAL is just not in mission mode”.
In September, HAL was given an order to make 97 Mk1A LCAs for the IAF in a Rs 62,370 crore deal. The delivery was expected to have begun from 2027-28. Those timelines may now have to be extended.
This is the second Tejas to have crashed. The first one crashed last year during the IAF’s biennial ‘Exercise Bharatshakti’ in Rajastan’s Pokhran desert. For an aircraft-maker to lose two fighters even before a squadron has been fully equipped is a very damaging statement on capabilities.
Also meant as a platform for exports, the keen interest that many countries had shown in the fighter will suffer a very big dent along with dimming prospects for sale. More so, when the Tejas was to be pitted against the Chinese JF-17 Block III (China).
Third, for the IAF, the crash and the consequent delay would be painful in the backdrop of critical shortage of fighter squadrons. It has placed much hope on a faster delivery of the Tejas to fill up the depleting numbers. The IAF’s fighter squadron strength now stands at 31, or about 200 aircraft short of the 42 squadron benchmark.
