“At the moment, I am just not confident of HAL.”
Words that should give Indian state-owned airframer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) sleepless nights. And many times over given that the sayer of these words is the Chief of the Indian Air Force.
“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,” a visibly annoyed IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh said to HAL Chairman D.K. Sunil. The six-and-a-half minute video posted by defence news portal NationalDefence on its YouTube channel (see below) appears to have been filmed while the IAF chief was getting a brief while seated in the cockpit of a HJT-36 Yashas.
Air Chief Marshal Singh’s discontent stems from the Tejas Mk1A, the improved Tejas jets that have been delayed for a variety of reasons, including delays in the supply of GE F404 engines from the United States and issues at HAL that this video now confirms.
“HAL is our company, we have all worked there. But I find that HAL is just not in mission mode,” said the IAF chief. “I was promised that when I come here in February, 11 Tejas Mk1As would be ready. And not a single one is ready.”
Probably most critically, the IAF chief goes on to chastise HAL by pointing out that the LCA Tejas Mk1A jets showcased at the Aero India 2025 show are not Mk1A jets.
“The aircraft that you flew, calling it Mk1A. It is not Mk1A. It cannot happen just by change of one software or by looks. When the weapons come and the capability comes, then it’s a Mk1A,” said the IAF chief.
The IAF chief’s words are especially significant given they came a day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh threw his weight behind HAL’s Tejas Mk1A jets at their production facility, right before four Mk1A jets took to the air in public for the first time at the ongoing Aero India show in Bengaluru.
“Mazaa nahi aa raha hai,” he sighs, shaking his head.
When the HAL leadership and test team tells him that his words are “duly noted” and that they will work on it, the IAF chief said, “I will be the happiest person if I’m proved wrong. I feel that only a few are putting in any effort. Or maybe everyone is putting in effort in their own silos without looking at the overall picture. Something has to change. Some drastic change. This needs a magic wand so everything gets aligned. It’s high time.”
Speaking of media coverage of his past words on the dilemma between indigenisation and import dependence, Air Chief Marshal Singh says, “I find it ridiculous how when I say something, the media takes the negative part. I am trying to put across a point. I cannot point a finger, because three fingers are pointing back at me.”
While Air Chief Marshal’s words are undoubtedly meant as valuable, honest feedback from someone with more skin in the game than anyone else at the moment, his words offer a rare glimpse into the turbulent relationship that HAL has always had with its principal customer. Livefist founder touched upon the history of some of these frustrations in a recent podcast:
Over the years Livefist, we’ve chronicled this relationship. From this harsh upbraiding of HAL over the Dhruv program, to this staunch defence of the corporation amidst an atmosphere of criticism over the Tejas.
Friction over the Tejas Mk1A program execution is on the latest flashpoint. But as the IAF chief himself says in the video, there must be alignment, since failure is not an option. HAL, which has enjoyed unchallenged monopoly over the IAF’s requirements has only recently begun to make peace with real world competition. The Tata-Airbus C295 assembly line in Gujarat is the country’s first military aircraft manufacturing program that doesn’t involve HAL. With the formula proving itself, it is likely that the Indian government will continue to push aircraft manufacture in the private sector.
The IAF’s upcoming medium transport aircraft (MTA) and multirole fighter aircraft (MRFA) are two near-term high value programs that will likely bypass HAL and be led by the private sector.
I laud the Chief. No one in the past has been so frank. He is not asking for his private use. HAL is an old organization. Even then it has been a poor show.
MoD is also responsible besides DRDO, ADA. What the IIT BITS IISc faculties are doing? Bookish?