Air Force Tejas Mk1A: News & Discussions: 02 January 2022

[uddu]

Indigenous Ejection Seat development | Canopy Jettison system
Canopy severance hardware
Pyrobolts / explosive bolts (shear and separation) or distributed micro-charges.
Frangible tear seams or pre-weakened segment lines (so panels separate cleanly).
Linear cutting charges (LCC) vs. segmented pyro approach (pyrobolts + pop-out).
Canopy propulsion / ejection actuators
Gas thrusters, mortar charges, or small rockets to propel panels/segments clear of the airstream.
Sequencing & timing
Canopy sever → seat rocket(s) → drogue → main chute. Timing resolution in milliseconds.
Sensors (airspeed, altimeter, attitude) and an independent, redundant logic box.
Mechanical retention & release
Bolt shear calculations, redundancy, failsafes to prevent inadvertent jettison.
Safety & EMI / environmental hardening
EMI/EMP immunity, thermal range, long storage life, maintenance/inspections.
Test infrastructure
Sled tests, wind-tunnel/CFD, vertical tower tests, instrumented anthropomorphic dummies, high-speed cameras.

[uddu]

ASRAAM ASTRA AND Hammer integrated on Tejas MK1A

[Rakesh]

Revised Tejas Mk1A delivery schedule of all 180 aircraft....

https://x.com/firebase25/status/1996549 ... 44456?s=20 ---> 12 Tejas Mk1A (till LA5044) have been rolled and are undergoing weapon trails before delivery in March. 4 engines delivered till date, hopefully 8 more by March for delivery of the first batch. We have seen 10 more aircraft on jigs on NDTV interview.

[Rakesh]

Revised Tejas Mk1A delivery schedule of all 180 aircraft....

Page 1 Updated....

Revised Delivery Schedule of all 180 aircraft (141 Mk1A Single Seat Fighters and 39 Mk1 Twin Seat Trainers) - URL, 04 Dec 2025

• 2026: 12 aircraft
• 2027: 30 aircraft
• 2028: 30 aircraft
• 2029: 30 aircraft
• 2030: 30 aircraft
• 2031: 30 aircraft
• 2032: 18 aircraft

[ashishvikas]

Revised Tejas Mk1A delivery schedule of all 180 aircraft....

Page 1 Updated....

Revised Delivery Schedule of all 180 aircraft (141 Mk1A Single Seat Fighters and 39 Mk1 Twin Seat Trainers) - URL, 04 Dec 2025

• 2026: 12 aircraft
• 2027: 30 aircraft
• 2028: 30 aircraft
• 2029: 30 aircraft
• 2030: 30 aircraft
• 2031: 30 aircraft
• 2032: 18 aircraft

I don’t think we should add in Page1. It’s not an official schedule.

HAL has capacity to make 24/yr.. 30 is they aim to achieve.

Also, it would be tied to Engine delivery schedule.

[Rakesh]

I don’t think we should add in Page1. It’s not an official schedule.

HAL has capacity to make 24/yr.. 30 is they aim to achieve.

Also, it would be tied to Engine delivery schedule.

Sirjee, the original schedule on Page 1 was from Hindustan Times And it is still there on Page 1.

I will take any tidbit of info at this stage...

[Rakesh]

https://x.com/VishnuNDTV/status/1996782 ... 68414?s=20 ---> “GE Aerospace has handed over the fifth F404-IN20 engine against the order from 2021. GE Aerospace and HAL continue to work closely to ensure clear line of sight of production schedules for the F404 engines.” –GE Aerospace spokesperson.

https://x.com/ungliwallah/status/199686 ... 60454?s=20 ---> 5th and 6th were supposed to come in October. 7th and 8th in November and 9th and 10th in December. What a joke. Also handed over may mean handing over in the US but not transported to India. So meaningless. GE is taking India for a ride.

https://x.com/cvkrishnan/status/1996822 ... 74688?s=20 ---> 5th engine has come but 1st aircraft in Mk1A config yet to be certified and delivered. No more engine excuses for delays.

[ashthor]

Looks like they will deliver half a squadron in one go by March instead of piece meal delivery.

[LakshmanPST]

As long as the jets are being manufactured continuously, I would't mind a few months delay in initial deliveries...
Initial hiccups are expected...

[Nikhil_Naya]

Paanwallah info that I got recently while talking to my local chaiwallah, is that we are working to redesign the FADEC and CLAW for the aircraft with a redesign to accommodate a different engine. As of now this is more of a test/ trial group. Could be linked to a non amirkan engine for Tejas MK1A or something else I dont know at this point.

[maitya]

Paanwallah info that I got recently while talking to my local chaiwallah, is that we are working to redesign the FADEC and CLAW for the aircraft with a redesign to accommodate a different engine. As of now this is more of a test/ trial group. Could be linked to a non amirkan engine for Tejas MK1A or something else I dont know at this point.

Interesting ... new/diff TF may mean some minor CLAW changes (may alter CG and CL "alignment" etc) but FADEC?
FADEC is inherent to the TF itself, may be the fuel system interface etc require some changes ...

[vera_k]

We know the Kaveri dry engine got a new FADEC. Maybe that is being extended to the a version suitable to be integrated with Tejas.

[Jay]

We know the Kaveri dry engine got a new FADEC. Maybe that is being extended to the a version suitable to be integrated with Tejas.

Noob question, can we even integrate Kaveri into Tejas without having testing and validation sites/infrastructure established locally? We seem to be years away from building High-Altitude Test Beds, and flying test beds which will be needed if are even thinking about putting Kaveri into Tejas.

[Nikhil_Naya]

We know the Kaveri dry engine got a new FADEC. Maybe that is being extended to the a version suitable to be integrated with Tejas.

All I can say is that it is not linked to the Kaveri (KADECU). It is something else altogether. Details are sketchy at best.

[Rakesh]

Whatever the chosen engine is, keeping fingers crossed that we can get a working prototype and test it out. We need an alternative to the GE F404. We have received a grand total of five F404 turbofans to date from GE. At this drip feed rate, there is *NO WAY* the Tejas is going to address the squadron shortage in the IAF.

[Rakesh]

Whatever the chosen engine is, keeping fingers crossed that we can get a working prototype and test it out. We need an alternative to the GE F404. We have received a grand total of five F404 turbofans to date from GE. At this drip feed rate, there is *NO WAY* the Tejas is going to address the squadron shortage in the IAF.

The Engine Delay Euphemism: HAL’s Go-To Explanation for Missed Deadlines
https://thumkar.blogspot.com/2025/12/th ... go-to.html
12 Dec 2025

[Rakesh]

Tejas Mk1A hit by GE engine delays, first delivery to Air Force pushed to 2026
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/t ... 2025-12-11
11 Dec 2025

[Aditya_V]

Our only hope is that there has been covert program using LSP's etc where the GE F404/F414 gets replaced by an alternative.

There is no way that Company/ Country like GE is struggling soo much for F404 engine, it is clearly well though decision not to supply.

[Prem Kumar]

A stark wake-up call like this is a blessing. No more meandering or in-between zones

Modi & Rajnath need to triple-down on Kaveri as the engine for the Tejas series

I think they are stupidly letting babus, import-bahadurs from the forces & the lazy twats at GTRE convince them that fake-ToTs are the way to go

Its a tough problem (given the above actors). But some good folks in the industry like Kalyani want to pitch in

The Govt must make some tough decisions. Now.

[pravula]

Our only hope is that there has been covert program using LSP's etc where the GE F404/F414 gets replaced by an alternative.

There is no way that Company/ Country like GE is struggling soo much for F404 engine, it is clearly well though decision not to supply.

Its less of a struggle vs making some money from side hustle mentality. GE has IAF over a barrel. IN20 variants are chai/somosa money for GE guys at this point.

[ashthor]

Looks like the babus and the afsars are running circle around the PM & DM. Why are they being allowed who knows.

[drnayar]

Whatever the chosen engine is, keeping fingers crossed that we can get a working prototype and test it out. We need an alternative to the GE F404. We have received a grand total of five F404 turbofans to date from GE. At this drip feed rate, there is *NO WAY* the Tejas is going to address the squadron shortage in the IAF.

I think the Americans are doing a Frenchie with the engine deal. Get the deals signed and just go slow , derail the entire fighter program.. the french did this with their scorpene deal, holding back access to critical technology, that had to be foregone for the project to complete.. sunk cost fallacy and all that.

There is no real alternative other than a fully indigenous fighter engine

[S_Madhukar]

Justification will be jhappi with Putin… nothing to do with contract execution

[Manish_P]

A stark wake-up call like this is a blessing. No more meandering or in-between zones
...

We have been waking up and then going back to sleep like clockwork for decades now

Doctors say such type of regular habits are good for the health

[VinodTK]

^^^^There is a good English saying "Fish always rotes from the head"
In this case the senior management of HAL

[rrao]

^^^^There is a good English saying "Fish always rotes from the head"
In this case the senior management of HAL

each chairman retires after every two years and he will be busy clearing the mess or unfinished tasks of the previous regime....so there is nothing to rote from head..

[VinodTK]

^^^^There is a good English saying "Fish always rotes from the head"
In this case the senior management of HAL

each chairman retires after every two years and he will be busy clearing the mess or unfinished tasks of the previous regime....so there is nothing to rote from head..

It is the job and duty of the chairman to clearly and openly state that he/she inherited a mess and they will clean it up as a first step before putting out dates, not wait untill the end and come out with new dates.

[bala]

Let us not shove all culpability upon HAL. We have the troika of MOD (orchestrater), Airforce (consumer), HAL (producer) involved with the mantriji atop. Rotting (btw spelling is Rot not rote which means something different) has happened everywhere, from decisions, cooperation, execution, planning, funding and direction. Just a few years back Airforce was calling Tejas the 3-legged cheeta and suddenly they are wanting things now to magically happen. On top of this is the US supplier GE and their politics. We have so many holes to fill including engine and some critical parts supply for an aircraft. Tejas represents a change in the way things are being done within India and it takes some time, learning, adaptability and much more.