Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) expects two big orders to boost its production backlog, as it also continues to update and support legacy types.
The company expects pending orders for 97 Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk1A fighters and 156 ‘Prachand’ Light Combat Helicopters (LCH) to boost its backlog to Rs2.5 trillion ($28 billion) by 2025-2026.
DK Sunil, HAL’s chairman and managing director, says the orders will grow the airframer’s backlog to seven years, adding that the procurement process for both platforms is at an “advanced stage”. He expects formal contacts within three to six months.
Beyond 2030, HAL foresees orders for 120 LCA Mk2s, 120 Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, and over 300 Indian Multi-Role Helicopters. All three platforms are in development.
HAL has two Tejas Mk1A production lines in Bengaluru and one in Nashik. This will support the production of 24 examples annually by 2025-2026. In 2025, Bengaluru will produce 10 examples and Nashik one.
Despite delays with Tejas Mk1A deliveries, Sunil claims that HAL will be able to deliver all 83 aircraft from a 2021 order within three and a half years, with the additional 97 from the pending order delivered by 2031-2032.
Nonetheless, HAL has yet to deliver the first Tejas Mk1A – original plans had called for deliveries to commence in February. It attributes this chiefly to delays in deliveries of GE Aerospace F404-IN20 engines.
The airframer expects engine deliveries to resume next month, with a total of 12 engines delivered by the end of 2025, and 20 engines delivered annually from 2026.
The slow production rate hurts the air force, says former Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, who retired from the service in 2024.
“Hopefully it should just be a matter of waiting for the engines to come in and then the rest of the production and the final assembly line issues should get completed as per the promised schedule. This is very important for the air force,” he says.
Sunil also touched on the Tejas’s export prospects. At current rates, a foreign order for 18 aircraft could cost Rs84 billion, which he feels will crimp the type’s prospects internationally.
HAL also supports legacy platforms such as the Sepecat Jaguar, Dassault Aviation Mirage 2000 and BAE Hawk 132 advanced jet trainer.
The company has upgraded the air force’s Mirage 2000H/THs to the I/TI standard. Providing an update on the Hawk 132s, a HAL official states that the type now has a serviceability rate of 70%.
India is the world’s only Jaguar operator, with about 120 aircraft among six squadrons. Some are being upgraded to the latest DARIN-III (Display Attack Ranging Inertial Navigation) standard. Updates include an Elta Systems active electronically scanned array radar, the indigenous D-JAG integrated electronic warfare system, a new mission computer, a glass cockpit, and other improvements.
These aircraft also carry MBDA ASRAAM short-range air-to-air missiles. HAL is delivering six upgraded DARIN III aircraft annually.
