IAF chief on Tejas delivery delay: HAL has limitations, need private players to chip in

Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh

Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh on Friday said the delivery of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas by Hindustan Aeronautics has been delayed and private players need to be roped in.

“It is a known fact that the Tejas aircraft has been delayed. If the promise of producing 24 aircraft per year, that delay can be addressed. We need to look at private players coming in. HAL has also its own limitations and looking at the numbers involved, we need the private industry to chip in to meet the production challenges,” Singh said while addressing a press conference.

He also said China is rapidly building infrastructure along Line of Actual Control, while India is also upgrading its infrastructure along the border. Singh also said it is important to have indigenous weapons systems to deal with any future security challenges. “The Indian Air Force should have entire inventory produced in India by 2047,” said Singh.

He also said the IAF can do what Israel's Iron Dome can do. "We will need large numbers but we can’t protect all the areas across the country and we have to prioritise requirements. IAF doesn’t have any preferences and we have our requirements.  The need is to take decisions quickly and the aircraft should be made in India. As far as space-based systems are concerned, we have been saying that air and space are continuous. We are working with the ISRO to work on that. Our programme to increase our space-based assets is going on," said Singh.

He said the IAF feedback  on Agniveers has been very positive. "We were asked if we could absorb more than 25% Agniveer and we said that we could. The decision has to be taken by the government," he said.