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

[Aditya_V]

Hmmm, I have a theory, IAF/ GOI want to discredit HAL in the public mind atleast temporarily so that nobody questions the 114 Rafale deal and it's huge cost and why HAL is not the local partner? But I feel Raga will raise the same issues again.

[Rakesh]

RaGa will raise the Rafale issue, regardless of how successful (or otherwise) the Tejas Mk1A program is.

The delays in the Tejas Mk1A is unfortunate, but eventually the Mk1A will be inducted at 180 airframes. The program is delayed, like all military programs are. But that is par for the course. And it is even more so in the Indian context, due to our archaic bureaurcracy and political apathy towards national security.

114 Rafale deal exists primarily because we do not have our own homegrown turbofan. This is what happens when the stakeholders invested only a pittance towards engine development. Dassault, France, Rafale, Safran, non-VLO, no source code access for Rafale are not the real issues. These are distractions designed to divert the focus away from the stakeholders who refused to (and still do so!) fund India's own low bypass turbofan. So now pay the price for 114 Rafale or whatever other MRFA comes.

Post the 114 MRFA deal, the Su-57 will also be coming. Pay billions for that as well, but still do not complete Kaveri.

[Rakesh]

^^^^ A must read Twitter thread on this issue...

https://x.com/amargov/status/2019595264034804099?s=20

Also posting as a link for those who cannot access X ---> https://twitter-thread.com/t/2019595264034804099

If India Wants to Build a Jet Engine, It Should Know What China Endured
https://swarajyamag.com/commentary/if-i ... na-endured
05 Feb 2026

[Rakesh]

^^^ Comments on the above post...

https://x.com/cvkrishnan/status/2019599 ... 22121?s=20 ---> From 30 hrs to 3600 hrs MTBO there was $42 Billion R&D investment across China’s academia industry research labs, blood(not just of test pilots but of scientists inside labs), and an enormous will and risk taking appetite to get the damn engine.

https://x.com/cvkrishnan/status/2019602 ... 73841?s=20 ---> All the 4 nations that have jet engine technology, went through this. Decades of blood, sweat, risk and $$. And for Indian discourse, both inside govt and on SM, to be like “give me core Technology transfer, I buy $3-4 Billion worth engines” is comical.

[Rakesh]

F404 delivery update....

VIDEO: https://x.com/dotcom_1106/status/201979 ... 77337?s=20

[Rakesh]

VIDEO: https://x.com/ndtv/status/2020123942527332397?s=20 ---> "I think Tejas is a fairly capable aircraft. Now that the engines have finally started coming. We have 5 available and hopefully at least 5 more on the way in this current financial year, and the delivery is reasonably stable at about 20 and near every financial year thereafter": Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh to @vishnundtv

[bala]

I was reviewing Group Captain (retd) Ajay Ahlawat interview with Swasti Rao.

Here are some observations on MK1A:

1. The IAF had requested some enhancements in previous version of Tejas and HAL said it will take a few months for the fix but it is 9 yrs since and no tangible movement by HAL.
2. The IAF had requested integration and enhancement with Rafale and India had to pay money for the changes. This took some time with vendor though the IAF does not acknowledge the delay.
3. With MK1A the changes requested (does anyone have the list requested by IAF?) are not complete. Maybe the Astra integration is the only one that is good to go.

My Questions are:

1. Is ADA involved in such change request given by the IAF.
2. If there are 10 request given and only 8 of them are completed why can't IAF take receipt of the planes. I am citing the 80:20 rule which Lockheed martin follows. What are exactly the priority for these changes, without which the IAF cannot operate planes.

In general HAL has an overflowing product line to keep up with production demands, and to have changes also added is quite the complexity of things to be done.

[Tanaji]

I need to use a very specific instrument for delicate surgery. It has a specific shape, needs to be of exact dimensions down to sub mm level and has other attachments that aid in operating said instrument. I pay a vendor lots of money to make the instrument and he agrees to do so in a time frame. At the end of the timeframe he says here is the instrument, use it for surgery - the instrument is not of specified dimensions, sharpness and is missing ancillary attachments. Vendor says adjust maadi, I will file it down for you and give the attachments later but please adjust and use in surgery.

Will you use it?

[drnayar]

I need to use a very specific instrument for delicate surgery. It has a specific shape, needs to be of exact dimensions down to sub mm level and has other attachments that aid in operating said instrument. I pay a vendor lots of money to make the instrument and he agrees to do so in a time frame. At the end of the timeframe he says here is the instrument, use it for surgery - the instrument is not of specified dimensions, sharpness and is missing ancillary attachments. Vendor says adjust maadi, I will file it down for you and give the attachments later but please adjust and use in surgery.

Will you use it?

It did happen for submarine order I think esp with the french , they dragged out the tot to real screwdriver tech , did India really gain anything from the french with the scorpene subs, other than the hardware. One hopes that does not repeat with the Rafale deal.

Uncle made sure he has a spanner in the works