NEW DELHI: Orders for 97 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mark 1A and 156 Light Combat Helicopters (LCH) Prachand, worth Rs 1.3 trillion (Rs 1,30,000 crore), are at an advanced stage of clearance and are expected to materialise within the next three to six months, taking the order book position to an expected Rs 2.5 trillion (Rs 2,50,000 crore) in financial year 2025-26 (FY26), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) DK Sunil said at a press conference on Tuesday, held on the sidelines of the second day of the five-day Aero India 2025 in Bengaluru.
He added that the public sector aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Bengaluru, is “actively pursuing” both orders and that its order pipeline remains “very healthy”.
“These two orders will add Rs 1.3 trillion (Rs 1,30,000 crore) to our order book. The next 12 months’ order accretion is estimated at Rs 1.65 trillion (Rs 1,65,000 crore), including the orders for the Su-30MKI upgrade, Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH) design and development (D&D) sanction, and regular repair and overhaul (ROH) orders,” said the HAL CMD, adding, “With all these orders, we expect that by the end of FY26, the order book position will increase to around Rs 2.5 trillion (Rs 2,50,000 crore), after accounting for liquidations during the period.”
During the nine months of the current financial year, HAL received fresh orders worth Rs 55,800 crore, comprising Rs 39,000 crore in manufacturing orders, including 240 AL 31 FP engines valued at Rs 25,350 crore and 12 Su-30MKI aircraft worth Rs 12,573 crore, and Rs 16,500 crore in ROH, spares, and D&D orders, the CMD said.
During the same period, the company also secured export orders worth Rs 300 crore, he added. “With the fresh orders, the order book stands at approximately Rs 1.33 trillion (Rs 1,33,000 crore) as of December 2024,” he highlighted.
Highlighting that HAL has attained Maharatna status, becoming the first defence public sector undertaking to do so, the CMD said, “HAL achieved double-digit growth, coupled with the highest revenue from operations of Rs 30,381 crore, in the previous financial year.”
The HAL CMD also addressed the Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) concerns regarding delivery delays and production capacity, stating that from financial year FY26, HAL will be in a position to manufacture 24 LCAs annually across all three production lines, as it plans to roll out the first LCA from the Nasik facility before March 2025. The IAF’s active squadrons have fallen to 31 against the authorised 42, with an ageing fleet and delayed inductions exacerbating the issue.
HAL has established three production lines for the LCA—one each at the LCA Division and Aircraft Division in Bengaluru, both already geared for production, and a third at its Nasik facility. These facilities will enable HAL to achieve its planned annual production capacity of 24 aircraft. “Our production capacity ramp-up initiatives are expected to meet the critical requirements of our armed forces,” added the CMD.
The HAL CMD assured that the first deliveries of the LCA Mk-1A are scheduled to begin by the end of 2025, following a delay of approximately a year. Addressing media queries about the delay in supplying the aircraft to the IAF, he stated that HAL would deliver 11 LCA Mk-1A aircraft by the end of FY26, with three of them having already completed flights at Aero India 2025.
Despite initial setbacks in the supply of F404-IN20 engines from American manufacturer GE Aerospace, HAL managed to continue production by utilising reserve engines from earlier Tejas variants. “GE has stabilised its manufacturing process for the F404 engines. We have already built three aircraft, and by the end of this year, 11 will be completed. As the engines start arriving, deliveries to the IAF will commence,” the HAL CMD said. He further added, “We have already begun manufacturing these aircraft. There was a setback due to engine supply issues, but GE has now assured us that this will not recur. They have committed to delivering 12 engines this year, and we will meet our delivery schedule. All LCA Mk-1As will be delivered by 2031-32.”
Despite HAL being fully committed until 2030 with orders from the armed forces, the CMD emphasised that securing exports of indigenous platforms to friendly foreign countries and maximising their indigenous content remain immediate challenges for the aerospace giant. He added that HAL is targeting exports in South-East Asia, North Africa, and South America, with the government working to extend lines of credit (LoCs) to potential buyer countries to facilitate LCA export deals.
The IAF has contracted 83 LCA Mk-1A aircraft, an advanced variant of the operational LCA Mk-I, for Rs 36,468.63 crore (excluding taxes and duties), with deliveries initially planned to begin in February 2024. Additionally, the IAF has moved forward with a proposal to procure 97 more LCA Mk-1A aircraft, for which an Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) has been granted, and a Request for Proposal (RFP) has been issued. As of December, the Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC) process was in progress for these additional aircraft, estimated at an AoN cost of Rs 65,848 crore. Once these acquisitions are completed, the IAF will have a total of 220 Tejas aircraft, including both Mk-I and Mk-1A variants.
In December, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence reported that the IAF had operationalised two squadrons of LCA Mk-I, comprising 32 single-seat fighters and four twin-seat trainers, with four additional twin-seaters expected at the time.
Source: Business Standard
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