Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh gave a detailed, project-by-project account of where India’s fighter jet programmes stand, from the near-term delivery of the delayed Tejas Mk1A to the first flights planned for the LCA Mk2 and the AMCA stealth fighter later this decade. He was candid about the delays that have dogged these programmes so far.
Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh made these remarks at the NDTV Defence Summit 2026, held in New Delhi.
Singh said HAL currently has 27 airframes ready. Of these, 11 already have engines fitted, while the remaining 16 have been flown on reserve engines and are ready to be finalised as soon as their own engines arrive.
The programme’s pace has long been constrained by delays in engine supply from GE Aerospace. Singh said GE, after working through supply-chain troubles, has now promised four engines a month, which would mean at least 12 more engines arriving before the end of this year. Based on that pace, he said at least one full Tejas Mk1A squadron is expected to be ready by the end of the year.
On the aircraft’s combat readiness, Singh said weapons integration is almost complete, though some radar performance issues are still being worked through.
Looking further ahead, Singh said HAL is promising a production rate of 24 jets a year, spread across four production lines, one of which involves a private sector partner. At that rate, he said all 180 jets on order, comprising 83 aircraft from the original order and 97 from a follow-on order, are expected to be delivered by 2033.
LCA Mk2: first flight in 2027
Singh also gave a timeline for the Tejas Mk2, the larger, more powerful successor to the Mk1A. He said the LCA Mk2 prototype is slated for its first flight between June and September 2027. The Mk2 is intended to eventually replace several of the IAF’s ageing aircraft types and is expected to initially use the same GE F414 engine that will also power the AMCA.
AMCA: first prototype in 2028
On India’s fifth-generation stealth fighter, Singh said the AMCA’s first prototype is expected to fly in September 2028. He noted that HAL had not qualified to build the AMCA prototypes, on what he called “fairly routine technical grounds which they somehow failed to meet,” marking the first time HAL has been excluded from an indigenous fighter-jet project. The Defence Ministry has responded by opening up AMCA manufacturing to the private sector, with the aim of setting up an additional production line beyond HAL. Even with a 2028 first flight, the AMCA’s entry into IAF service would come close to a decade from now, once integration and flight trials are complete.
Asked about the years of delay that have affected these programmes, Singh did not offer excuses. “That’s not good enough for me… I would obviously like to do things much faster,” he said.
The bigger picture
Taken together, Singh’s account lays out a sequenced path for the IAF’s fighter fleet over the coming decade: a Tejas Mk1A squadron by the end of this year and full delivery of all 180 jets by 2033, the LCA Mk2’s first flight in 2027, and the AMCA’s first prototype flight in 2028. The admission of delay, paired with specific, publicly stated targets, suggests the ministry is trying to draw a line under years of slippage while giving itself a clear set of benchmarks to be held to.
