After repeated delays that spanned nearly two years, American firm General Electric Aerospace has resumed delivery of the GE-F404 engines that power India's indigenous fighter jet Tejas and its variants. On Wednesday, 26th March, the firm announced the delivery of the first of 99 engines ordered by the Indian Government-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL), the builder of the Tejas jet. "Excited to deliver the first of 99 F404-IN20 engines to our valued customer HAL for the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft Mk 1A fight jet. It is an important milestone in our 40-year relationship with HAL," announced the firm.

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This comes at a time when the Indian Air Force continues to grapple with a severe shortage of fighter jet squadrons. With 31 squadrons at present, the force is expected to decommission a few more aging squadrons of Soviet-era and European-origin aircraft in the coming years. These developments are really concerning, given that the force is required to have 42 squadrons of fighter jets to counter a two-front threat. 

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India is now heavily relying on the rapid induction of the indigenously designed and developed Tejas aircraft variants to shore up the fleet numbers. However, various issues have caused delays in the induction of the Tejas series of fighter jets.

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What led to the delay in jet engines?

Referring to the challenges in delivering the GEF04 engines for India, GE Aerospace said, by 2016 we fulfilled the commitment to HAL and delivered 65 F404-IN20 engines for the Tejas LCA. With no additional engine orders on the horizon, the production line for F404-IN20 was shut down. However, when HAL ordered an additional 99 engines in 2021 for the Tejas Mk1A LCA, our team began the complex task of restarting the F404-IN20 production line, which had been dormant for five years and re-engaging the engine’s global supply chain.

"Restarting a jet engine production line is a challenging process. Restarting the F404-IN20 engine line during the COVID-19 pandemic was even more challenging. With a high focus on safety and quality and a remarkable commitment from our supply chain teams and our suppliers and partners, we have managed to restart the line. Today, we are working closely with our suppliers to ramp up production on parts and materials for the F404-IN20," read a statement from the firm. 

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Earlier this year, the Indian Air Force Chief Air Marshal AP Singh had lashed out at the slow-paced roll out of Tejas jets by the Government-run plane maker. He highlighted that the Air Force had received only 36 of the 40 jets that were ordered back in 2009-10. These comments came around the time that there were speculative videos circulating about China's 6th generation fighter aircraft being tested. India does not possess 5th generation fighter jets yet and India's own 5th generation fighter plane is about a decade away from being inducted.