Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh questioned the delay in the timely completion of defence procurements and lamented that most contracts could not be completed due to delays in the production of weapon systems.
Speaking at the CII Annual Business Summit on Thursday, the IAF chief pointed out multiple cases of delays, particularly indigenous defence projects, NDTV reported.
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The top IAF officer lamented that none of the 83 Tejas Mk1A, a 4.5 generation Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), has been delivered so far by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Deliveries were expected to begin in March 2024, following the PSU's award of the ₹48,000 crore contract in February 2021.
HAL has been affected by the slow delivery of engines from General Electric due to supply chain issues faced by the US firm.
{{/usCountry}}HAL has been affected by the slow delivery of engines from General Electric due to supply chain issues faced by the US firm.
{{/usCountry}}“Deliveries of Tejas Mk1 are delayed. The prototype of Tejas Mk2 is yet to roll out. There is no prototype yet of the stealth AMCA fighter,” Singh said at the event, also attended by defence minister Rajnath Singh.
‘Need to have trust’
IAF chief called for designing weapon systems in India, urging the armed forces and the industry to develop trust and transparency. “We cannot just talk about producing in India, we need to talk about designing. We need to have trust between the forces and industry. We need to be very open. Once we have committed to something, we should deliver. Air Force is trying to do its best to make in India,” he added.
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Stressing the need for the armed forces to be future-ready, Singh remarked that the industry might ramp up production in a decade, but the forces cannot efficiently operate without fulfilling today's needs.
“In 10 years, we will have more output from industry, but what we need today, we need today. We need to quickly get our act together. Wars are won by empowering our forces,” he said.
Weeks after military action against Pakistan under “Operation Sindoor,” the Centre on Wednesday approved a framework to build an indigenous fifth-generation stealth fighter jet – the advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA)