Expressing his frustration against the slow-paced delivery of Tejas fighters by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said on Tuesday (Jan 7) that “technology delayed is technology denied”. Singh highlighted that the HAL is yet to deliver the first batch of 40 Tejas fighters, the process for which started in 2016. 

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During his address at the 21st Subroto Mukerjee Seminar, Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, said, "R&D loses its relevance if it is not able to meet the timeline. Time is a very important thing. We need to give greater leeway to the researchers. There will be failures, let's not be scared of failures. I think we are losing a lot of time because we are scared of failure...Defence is one sector where time is very important. If we don't meet the timeline, technology is of no use. So we need to learn from our failures, move on, and not be scared of those failures...R&D funds are woefully short. We are just about at 5%, should be at 15% (of the defence budget). We have to make sure that these funds are increased and they are available to private players also." 

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“Production agencies have to invest in their advanced manufacturing processes so that the speed can increase. Upskilling their manpower and whatever they do, the scale of the production has to go up. Tejas, we started inducting in 2016,” Singh further added in his speech. 

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Singh said that the first Tejas aircraft flew in 2001 and another induction started 15 years later in 2016. Now, when we have crossed 2024, Singh said he is yet to "have the first 40 aircraft". 

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"This is the production capability. We need to do something. I am very convinced that we need to get some private players in. We need to have competition. We need to have multiple sources available so that people are wary of losing their orders. Otherwise, things will not change,” he said.

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He expressed the concern that there has been an increase in the militarisation by China and Pakistan on the borders, and it's a major security concern for India. 

He further talked about China's advanced air force, saying that China is heavily investing in its air force. He said the recent unveiling of its new stealth aircraft is the fresh instant of the fact. 

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(With inputs from agencies)