IAF Chief Drops Bombshell on Delayed Defence Deliveries: ‘We Know Systems Won’t Arrive While Signing Contracts’

IAF Chief Drops Bombshell on Delayed Defence Deliveries: Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh queried the delay in defence procurements on time and lamented that most contracts could not be completed due to delays in the production of the weapon systems.

In his address at the CII Annual Business Summit on Thursday, the IAF chief enumerated numerous delays, especially in Indian defence projects, said NDTV.

About the IAF chief's lamentations, he said that so far Hindustan Aeronautics Limited had not delivered any of the 83 Tejas Mk1A, a 4.5 generation Light Combat Aircraft, and that it was expected that deliveries would commence in March 2024 after the PSU had been awarded the contract of ₹48,000 crore in February 2021.

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Due to supply chain issues facing US firm GE, HAL experienced slow delivery of engines.

“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’

The IAF chief said that weapon systems should be designed in India, and the Army and the industry should develop trust and transparency thereon. “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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Singh stressed that the industry might take a decade to ramp production, but the armed forces need to ready for tomorrow today.

“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 the military action against Pakistan under “Operation Sindoor,” on Wednesday, the Centre cleared a framework for the indigenous development of a fifth-generation stealth fighter jet – the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).

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