This is the fourth peacetime crash of an IAF jet in 2025 so far.
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.
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 aims to raise output from the current ceiling of 24 aircraft a year to 30 by the end of 2027
Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha on Wednesday expressed concerns over the delays in delivery schedules of 'Tejas' Light Combat Aircraft and intermediate jet trainer 'Sitara', both being developed indigenously, and their impact on operational capability.
'The aircraft is expected to be ready for rollout between January and March 2026, and to fly by the end of the year.'
The Sri Lanka Air Force and Egypt has also shown some interest in procuring the Tejas.
The indigenously designed and developed Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH-Dhruv) and the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas will not be part of the upcoming Republic Day flypast in India due to the grounding of the entire fleet of ALH-Dhruv helicopters following a crash earlier this month. The grounding of the helicopters is a result of a Coast Guard ALH crash in Porbandar, Gujarat on January 5, which claimed the lives of two pilots and an aircrew diver. The decision to exclude the ALH-Dhruv and Tejas from the flypast comes as a high-level probe panel investigates the cause of the crash.
Up until recently, she was flying the MiG-21s and was recently posted to the LCA squadron deployed in Naliya air base in the Gujarat sector along the border with Pakistan.
The pilot ejected safely and a court of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident, the IAF said in a brief statement.
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd will unveil a mock-up display of its Combat Air Trainer, a twin-engine home grown Advanced Jet Trainer, during the Aero India show that begins in Bangalore on Wednesday.
The decision to procure the fleet was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said.
'It would be a travesty if the Malaysian air force likes the Tejas, but decides against it because it sees the IAF reluctance to back the fighter.'
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Thursday took a sortie in Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, on the second day of the ongoing Aero India-2021 in Bengaluru.
Glimpses from Day 1 at Aero India 2025 at the Yelahanka air base in Bengaluru, India, February 10, 2025.
The death of a young pilot and three fighter jet crashes prompt the question -- should there be more simulation training?
'Today's situation is unacceptable. It has the potential to affect the IAF's operational capability.'
A galaxy of dignitaries including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, his French counterpart Florence Parly, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria and Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar will attend the ceremony.
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).
The delivery of the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) to the Indian Air Force under a Rs 48,000-crore deal will begin from March 2024 and around 16 aircraft will be rolled out annually till the completion of the total supply of 83 jets, Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited R Madhavan said on Sunday.
According to Madhavan, the delivery of the Tejas LCA to the IAF under the Rs 48,000-crore deal will begin from March 2024 and around 16 aircraft will be rolled out annually till the completion of the total supply of 83 jets.
It earlier took 19 months to build a Tejas, now it takes 11 months, says HAL chief.
Wearing a G suit, the minister buckled himself in the seat behind the pilot in the aircraft.
In a tweet, the IAF welcomed the "new bird" into its arsenal.
This was the first time General Rawat flew in the home-made fighter jet, known for its agility, being the smallest and lightest multirole supersonic fighter jet in its class.
Defence Minister A K Antony is flying down to Bangalore to award the Tejas its initial operational certificate on Friday. The Sitara's success in intensive flight-testing this year means that he could soon be making another trip to award an identical certification to the Sitara.
The HAL wants the IAF to buy 80 Tejas Mark I-A to keep the production line occupied from 2020 to 2023-24
An IAF "request for information" floated on the MoD website invites Indian companies to submit preliminary bids to supply the IAF with 106 PC-7 Mk II trainers. Ajai Shukla reports
Seven years ago, an IAF chief had ordered the HTT-40 to be removed from the Yelahanka air base. The IAF now wants HAL to build 108 HTT-40 aircraft.
Three people were killed after the MiG-21 fighter aircraft crashed into a house in Hanumangarh in Rajasthan shortly after it took off for a routine training sortie from the Air Force Station at Suratgarh.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday that India cannot remain dependent on other countries for its defence and that the indigenously developed Tejas was better than its foreign equivalents on several parameters and also comparatively cheaper.
With a combination of both physical and virtual exhibition, the 13th edition of the biennial international event at Air Force Station Yelahanka will be the world's first hybrid aerospace show.
Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman of the Indian Air Force who shot down a Pakistan air force F-16 during a dogfight on February 27 earlier this year, flew a MiG-21 Bison aircraft during the Air Force Day parade at Hindon Air Base. Three Mirage 2000 aircraft and two Su-30MKI fighter aircraft also flew in the 'Avenger formation'. The planes are being flown by pilots who took part in Balakot airstrike. Here are highlights from the parade.
One of the most sought after exhibitions in Asia, as many as 549 companies are participating this year with 53 fighter aircraft on display.
The Bengaluru skies dazzled with somersaults and stunts by metal birds.
In the early part of the Kargil operations, the army opted to more or less go it alone, sacrificing large numbers of men and officers in almost superhuman struggles against an enemy on higher ground. Some generals seem to think their predecessors would have succeeded better if they had had air resources at their disposal, points out David Devadas.
'While fighter pilots must not be sent into combat in inferior aircraft, an obsessive quest for outright combat superiority will leave an air force short of numbers,' says Ajai Shukla.
Meanwhile, Congress president Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the Modi government and Anil Ambani over the Rafale issue, saying that in order to bag India's biggest defence contracts one has to be a "defaulter of Rs 45,000 crore" and have "no relevant experience".
Even as three Rafale fighters line up in Bengaluru for eye-popping aerobatics displays at the Aero India 2015 exhibition this week, senior ministry of defence sources say the proposal to buy the French fighter is "effectively dead".
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