HAL Strikes Back: How Tejas is Crushing the Misinformation Mob

In the age of social media, opinions usually hover sooner than details. A recent put up on X sparked a heated debate about India’s indigenous defense manufacturing, particularly focused on Hindustan Aeronautics Minute (HAL) and its manufacturing of the Tejas Light Fight Plane (LCA). The put up reads:

“In a map Indians had been made to mediate with some magic and money HAL will commence producing 100s of Tejas and AMCA. That is misinformation. The tasteless (and unhappy) details are that from 2019 France has equipped extra Rafales (36) than the 23 Tejas HAL has managed to provide since the principle series manufacturing Tejas used to be delivered (2014). The extra our nation lives in denial the extra dysfunctional our defence will be.”

While this critique highlights a valid grunt about manufacturing tempo, it overlooks the broader context of HAL’s achievements, challenges, and courageous roadmap. Some distance from being a myth of dysfunction, HAL’s hump with the Tejas program reflects resilience, innovation, and a steady march against self-reliance in defense manufacturing. Let’s unpack the details, dispel the myths, and celebrate the strides HAL is making to bag India’s skies.

The HAL Tejas, a single-engine, multirole fighter jet, is a image of India’s ambition to provide its have strive against aircraft. Designed by the Aeronautical Model Agency (ADA) and manufactured by HAL, the Tejas made its first flight in 2001 and entered provider with the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2015. The first series manufacturing Tejas used to be delivered in 2014, marking the starting up of a new generation for Indian aerospace. Since then, HAL has delivered 23 Tejas aircraft, a quantity that critics, adore the X put up author, argue pales in comparison to France’s shipping of 36 Rafale jets between 2019 and 2022.

This comparison, then yet as soon as more, is misleading. The Rafale is a produced from Dassault Aviation, an organization with a protracted time of expertise and established manufacturing lines catering to multiple global purchasers, including France, Egypt, and Qatar. HAL, on the heaps of hand, is building an indigenous fighter from scratch in a nation with a nascent aerospace alternate. The Tejas program isn’t lawful about delivering aircraft—it’s about increasing expertise, practicing a workforce, and lengthening an ecosystem that didn’t exist earlier than. In inequity to France, which can perchance ramp up Rafale deliveries from an brisk assembly line, HAL needed to provide its manufacturing skill limited by limited, overcoming delays in certification, offer chain hiccups, and funding constraints.

HAL’s manufacturing charge has certainly been a degree of competition. Firstly, the Bengaluru facility may produce lawful eight Tejas aircraft per three hundred and sixty five days. This restricted skill stemmed from this blueprint’s early challenges, including delays achieve Preliminary Operational Clearance (IOC) in 2014 and Final Operational Clearance (FOC) in 2019—successfully in the lend a hand of the planned timelines of 2010 and 2012. With out plump certification, HAL used to be restricted to restricted serial manufacturing, delivering two to some of jets yearly. Then yet as soon as more, this uninteresting commence doesn’t repeat the plump chronicle.

Since 2019, HAL has remodeled its manufacturing capabilities. The company now operates three assembly lines: two in Bengaluru (each and every able to producing eight jets per three hundred and sixty five days) and a third in Nashik (including yet another eight). Together, these amenities can churn out 24 Tejas Mk-1A jets yearly—a threefold assemble bigger from the original skill. HAL chief C.B. Ananthakrishnan has confirmed plans to advise the principle Tejas Mk-1A by March 2025, with the aim of finishing the IAF’s impart of 83 jets by 2028, a three hundred and sixty five days earlier than time desk. Taking a stare ahead, HAL aims to scale manufacturing to 30 jets per three hundred and sixty five days by streamlining its offer chain, a target that may rise additional with personal-sector partnerships.

Study this to the Rafale: Dassault delivers about 11-14 jets yearly to its customers, a charge HAL is rapidly drawing reach without reference to ranging from a a ways much less developed base. The X put up’s claim of “23 Tejas since 2014” also ignores the truth that HAL has delivered 36 Mk-1 jets as of early 2025, with two squadrons already operational in the IAF. The numbers are climbing, and the momentum is ghastly.

The IAF’s religion in HAL is obvious in its orders. Beyond the preliminary 40 Tejas Mk-1 jets, the IAF shriveled 83 Tejas Mk-1A aircraft in 2021 for Rs Forty eight,000 crore. In 2025, the Cabinet Committee on Security well-liked an additional 97 Mk-1A jets price Rs 65,000 crore, bringing the total to 180—ample for 10 squadrons. This isn’t a pipedream; it’s a concrete commitment backed by funding and infrastructure. HAL’s impart e book also includes the Tejas Mk-2, a extra developed variant living for its first flight in 2026, and the Improved Medium Fight Plane (AMCA), India’s fifth-generation stealth fighter slated for manufacturing in the 2030s.

Critics may scoff at these timelines, however HAL’s music file reveals progress. The Tejas Mk-1A, with its AESA radar, self-security jammer, and air-to-air refueling, addresses earlier shortcomings, incomes praise from IAF pilots. In the meantime, the AMCA program, well-liked with Rs 15,000 crore in 2024, is titillating from produce to prototype, with HAL taking part with personal corporations to portion the burden. This isn’t “magic and money”—it’s strategic planning and execution.

HAL isn’t without its hurdles. Present chain disruptions, in particular for Same old Electrical F414 engines, have delayed Mk-1A deliveries. Geopolitical tensions and global shortages have compounded the be troubled, prompting HAL to push for indigenous engine pattern with partners adore Safran. The company also faces criticism for past mismanagement and uninteresting resolution-making, usually attributed to bureaucratic crimson tape and reliance on the ADA and DRDO. Yet, HAL has spoke back by outsourcing ingredients to personal corporations adore Larsen & Toubro and Dynamatic Applied sciences, boosting efficiency and skill.

The X put up’s charge of “denial” overlooks these efforts. India isn’t pretending its defense alternate is flawless—it’s actively fixing it. The authorities’s “Scheme in India” initiative has spurred HAL to have over 563 home enterprises in the Tejas program, a quantity living to develop to 650. This ecosystem is increasing jobs, abilities, and expertise that may live mighty longer than any single aircraft impart.

Evaluating Tejas to Rafale misses the level. France’s deliveries bolster India’s rapid defense, however HAL’s work builds its future. The Rafale is a carried out product; the Tejas is a basis. Every jet HAL produces reduces India’s reliance on imports, which as soon as drained billions from its coffers. The Tejas isn’t lawful a fighter—it’s a stepping stone to the Mk-2, AMCA, and past, positioning India to compete globally.

The X put up’s pessimism reflects a snapshot, now not the trajectory. HAL isn’t churning out “100s of Tejas and AMCA” yet, however it’s now not supposed to. It’s building a sustainable alternate, now not a transient repair. By 2030, with 24-30 Tejas jets rolling out yearly and the AMCA taking shape, HAL may outpace many established gamers. That’s now not denial—it’s choice.

HAL’s hump with the Tejas is a marathon, now not a bound. The numbers—24 jets per three hundred and sixty five days, 180 ordered, a third manufacturing line—communicate louder than skeptics. The company isn’t ideal, however it’s removed from dysfunctional. As India invests in its aerospace future, HAL stands on the forefront, proving that self-reliance is definitely price the wait. The subsequent time you see a Tejas wing, bear in mind: it’s now not lawful a plane—it’s a promise kept.