NEW DELHI/DUBAI: The crash of India’s Tejas fighter jet in front of global arms buyers at the Dubai Airshow has dented the aircraft’s international prospects, leaving it increasingly dependent on domestic orders to sustain its role as a flagship of India’s home-grown defence technology, reports Reuters.
The cause of Friday’s crash remains unclear, but the incident came at the end of an eventful week at the show, attended by Pakistan just six months after the two nuclear-armed rivals engaged in the world’s largest air battle in decades. India also paid tribute to Wing Commander Namansh Syal, who died in the crash.
The incident has also raised fresh questions about the aircraft’s performance and the Indian Air Force’s safety protocols.
The Tejas is India’s indigenously developed, single-engine light combat aircraft, designed by HAL and DRDO. Classified as an LCA, it serves as a lightweight multirole fighter built for air-to-air and air-to-ground missions.
A Blow at a Global Showcase
“The imagery is brutal,” said Douglas A. Birkey, executive director of the US-based Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, noting that airshow crashes send the opposite message of technological achievement.
He added that while the Tejas programme will face negative publicity, it is likely to recover over time.
Dubai is the world’s third-largest airshow after Paris and Farnborough, and accidents at such events are rare. Notable past crashes include Russia’s Sukhoi Su-30 at Paris in 1999 and a MiG-29 a decade earlier, both of which later secured Indian orders.
Exports in Doubt
The Tejas programme, conceived in the 1980s to replace Soviet-era MiG-21s, has struggled with delays. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has 180 Mk-1A jets on order from the Indian Air Force, but deliveries have been held up by engine supply issues at GE Aerospace.
A former senior HAL executive said the Dubai incident “rules out exports for now”, despite earlier ambitions to sell the jet in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. HAL also opened an office in Malaysia in 2023 to push international sales.
With IAF fighter squadrons down to 29 from an authorised strength of 42 — and older MiG-29s, Jaguars, and Mirage 2000s nearing retirement — India continues to eye off-the-shelf options, including more French Rafales, defence officials said.
New Delhi is also weighing offers from the US and Russia for the advanced F-35 and Su-57 fighters, both of which appeared at the Dubai show.
A Foundation for Future Programmes
Analysts say the Tejas’ long-term value may lie more in the domestic industrial base it has created than in exports.
Sanctions following India’s 1998 nuclear tests and difficulties in developing local engines slowed early progress, said Walter Ladwig of the Royal United Services Institute.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew in a Tejas in 2023, projecting it as a symbol of India’s push for defence self-reliance.
Pakistan showcased its JF-17 Block III fighter — co-developed with China — and announced a provisional export agreement with a “friendly country”. The aircraft was displayed alongside PL-15E missiles, which US and Indian officials say downed Indian Rafales in the May conflict.
Brochures distributed by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex described the JF-17 as “battle-tested”, in contrast to India’s more cautious handling of the Tejas, which was not used in the May conflict and did not take part in India’s Republic Day aerial display this year due to what officials described as single-engine safety concerns.
