India's indigenous fighter jet programme reached a key milestone on Friday, October 17, 2025, as the Tejas Mk1A made its maiden flight at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's Nashik facility.
HAL has assured the IAF that 12 Mk1A aircraft will be delivered by the end of 2025-2026.
HAL executives said deliveries of the Tejas Mk1A to the IAF would begin within this year, but only after the successful completion of the weapons-firing trials currently underway.
An Indian Air Force Su-30 MKI fighter jet crashed in Assam during a training mission, prompting an immediate search operation for the missing pilots.
HAL aims to raise output from the current ceiling of 24 aircraft a year to 30 by the end of 2027
Top HAL sources say the AMCA, which is being developed as the IAF's next-generation stealth fighter, is slated to be assembled at HAL Nashik.
'Our production capacity ramp-up initiatives are expected to meet the critical requirements of our armed forces.'
'The heat shield technology for re-entry vehicles was first mastered in DRDO for the Agni missile.' 'This is why the Americans were so opposed to Agni in the 1980s, unlike other missiles -- it was a re-entry vehicle.'
There were no casualties, police said, adding both the pilots ejected safely before the plane hit ground.
The MiG-21's sharp silhouette and supersonic roar will live on in the memories of those who flew it, those who maintained it, and those who watched it streak across the sky as a symbol of India's strength, asserts IAF veteran Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
HAL's sustained, long-term income will come from the design, development, manufacture, overhaul, and upgrade of a family of helicopters designed for deployment on India's 21,000-foot-high Himalayan frontier with Pakistan and China.
HAL will build each Su-30 at just Rs 4.25 billion. The IAF is paying Rs 11.25 billion per Rafale, excluding the price of weapons and logistics.
If the new request for 18 more fighters translates into a contract, the Sukhoi-30MKI fleet size will go up to 14 squadrons, or 290 fighters.
HAL's Aircraft Division Nashik, established in 1964 for licence manufacture of MiG-21FL aircraft and K-13 missiles, is located at Ojhar, 24 km from Nashik and around 200 km from Mumbai.
In the event of a war with China, AMCA deep strikes would target China's rail and road links with Tibet, isolating PLA divisions there.
HAL is also integrating the Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile onto the Mark 1A. Each Tejas will carry two of these missiles.
State-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) on Thursday said it has received a Request for Proposal (RFP) from the Indian Air Force for basic trainer HTT-40.
Sukhoi-30MKI fighters will be based in Thanjavur. Tejas Mark 1 aircraft will be based in Sulur. The Rafale squadron will be based in Ambala.
Despite pending payments of over Rs 20,000 crore, HAL revenue grew 6% against the previous year.
The aircraft to be operated would be an ATR-42 type capable of carrying around 40 passengers, Deshmukh said, adding he was holding talks with a senior Kingfisher official on Monday for following up the issue with DGCA in Delhi. The Ojhar airport is restricted for Indian Air Force activity and is occasionally used for VIP flights.
Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) is one of the largest beneficiaries of the defence indigenisation programme. The aerospace Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) has just received a new tender for 97 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A, and it is already servicing an earlier order for 83 LCA aircraft. The new order is worth around Rs 65,000 crore with a 65 per cent indigenisation component, whereas the earlier order (February 21) was worth Rs 45,700 crore with 55 per cent indigenisation.
This will be the largest claim in the aviation sector for Indian insurers in the last three years
The four-line letter, written in Hindi and received by the Ojhar-based unit on Saturday, warned that 'Bambai-Malegaon ab Ojhar MIG... bas thoda intezar' (after Mumbai and Malegaon now Ojhar-MIG... in a little time)
The police on Friday arrested two more Maharashtra Navnirman Sena students' wing activists in connection with the death of an Hindustan Aeronautical Limited employee due to the violence sparked off after the arrest of party chief Raj Thackeray.
IAF pilots would no longer have to fly deep into heavily defended airspace to strike enemy bases, they can launch a Brahmos from as far away as 295 km.
The Indian troops guarding the nearly 3,500-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) maintained an assertive approach in sync with the broader national security doctrine and procured a variety of military platforms and weapons to enhance their combat capabilities.
Built by HAL with Russian technology, the frontline twin-seater Sukhoi 30MKI was rolled at the Ozar airbase in Nashik.
Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a twin-jet multi-role air superiority aircraft developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has voiced his concern at Dassault's reported reluctance to meet the terms of the IAF tender, which required the French company to guarantee the 108 fighters that HAL would build in India, after the first 18 were supplied fully-built in France.
Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria's plan includes building 83 Tejas Light Combat Aircraft in quick time to fill the light fighter vacancies left by the retirement of MiG-21 and MiG-27 fighters.
Has the army confronted China, equipping itself with emergency purchases that have been largely paid for by pensioners, asks Ajai Shukla.
'It is not clear how the NDA government -- including Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, backed by senior IAF officials -- claimed that the 36 Rafale contract with Dassault in 2016 cost the IAF 20% less than Dassault's 126 Rafale offer,' notes Ajai Shukla in the first of a three-part series.
Ahead of President Vladimir Putin's visit to New Delhi, Indian and Russian officials will be holding talks on the multi-billion dollar Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft joint project.
Russia -- already India's biggest arms supplier from 2014-18, accounting for 58 per cent of India's defence imports -- eyes more, reports Ajai Shukla.
The IAF faces a 'fighter gap' of 13 squadrons. The IAF would be caught seriously short in a two-front war -- the worst-case planning contingency in which China and Pakistan attack India simultaneously, points out Ajai Shukla.
Men and women of the Indian Air Force who conducted rescue missions in Kerala's worst deluge speak to Rediff.com's Archana Masih.
The defence ministry needs to focus keenly on "Made in India" projects without being distracted by "Make in India" slogans, says Ajai Shukla
Starting as a maker of hydraulic pumps, the Bengaluru-based company graduated to components for automakers like BMW and Audi, and then Airbus and Boeing
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