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IAF operates with 31 squadrons, target is 42

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Jet maker HAL facing issue with engine supplies

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HAL says it understands concerns, trying to fix problem

(This Feb 12 story was updated on Feb 13 to add GE Aerospace

comments in paragraph 11)

By Shivam Patel

BENGALURU, Feb 12 (Reuters) - India's state fighter jet

maker Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) said it understood

why India's air force was impatient over delays in delivering

warplanes and would start rolling them out once General Electric ( GE )

supplied engines for them.

In a pre-scheduled press conference on Tuesday that was held

a day after the head of the air force rebuked company officials,

HAL Chairman D.K. Sunil said when asked about the delays: "The

concern of the air chief is understandable. Of course, his

squadron strengths are going down."

"We have now promised that we will have all the structures

ready," Sunil said. "We are building this. Once the engines are

available, this will start rolling out."

The Indian Air Force's fleet of mainly ex-Soviet aircraft

has been operating with only 31 fighter squadrons compared with

a target of 42, frustrating its officials given the country's

tense relations with neighbours China and Pakistan.

The Air Force has ordered 83 Mk-1A light combat aircraft

from HAL, an advanced variant of the operational Mk-1 "Tejas",

with deliveries initially planned to start in February 2024 as

part of a 364.68 billion rupees ($4.20 billion) contract. It

plans to procure 97 more Mk-1As, which would take the total of

the Tejas group of aircraft to 220.

But deliveries have been repeatedly delayed, due in part to

the slow arrival of engines from GE, which has been facing

supply chain issues.

Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh was seen rebuking HAL

officials at the Aero India air show in Bengaluru in a video

filmed by defence news outlet National Defence that went viral

on Tuesday.

"At the moment I am just not confident of HAL," Singh said,

seating inside the cockpit of a trainer aircraft as HAL

officials crouched by his side on a platform.

"I was promised that when I come here in February I will see

11 Mk1As ready, minus the engines," Singh said. "Not a single

one is ready. Not impressed."

India's defence production secretary, Sanjeev Kumar, said at

the same air show that production lines had stabilised both at

HAL and GE, and that the Indian company would have the capacity

to hand over 16 to 24 aircraft in the fiscal year that starts in

April.

GE Aerospace referred to a company statement from earlier

this month that said the company has so far delivered 65 engines

for the LCA Mk-1 programme, and another 99 are on order for the

LCA Mk-1A variant.

India's close defence partner Russia this week also offered

to make its fifth-generation stealth fighter jet Sukhoi Su-57 in

India for the Indian Air Force, by enhancing the Indian

production line of the Sukhoi Su-30 aircraft, 260 of which are

in India's fleet.

($1 = 86.8700 Indian rupees)