The Engine Delay Euphemism: HAL’s Go-To Explanation for Missed Deadlines

 

The HT, quoting PTI, reported on December 12, 2025, that HAL has revised the delivery schedule for the LCA Mk-1A and HTT-40. It now aims to deliver 5 LCA Mk-1A jets and 3 HTT-40 trainers by March 2026.

HAL had earlier committed to deliver 10 LCA Mk-1A fighters and 12 HTT-40 trainers by March 2026.

HAL attributes the timeline revision for the LCA Mk-1A to delays in the completion of weapons trials and the delivery of GE F404 engines, and for the HTT-40 to delays in delivery of the Honeywell TPE331-12B turboprop engine.

LCA Mk-1A Orders

A total of 180 Tejas Mk-1A fighters are on order with HAL — 83 against an initial order placed in February 2021 and 97 under a follow-up order placed in September 2025.

HAL has created three production lines for the aircraft.

GE-F404-IN20 Delivery

Based on the initial LCA Mk-1A order, HAL placed an order for 99 GE F404 engines with General Electric (GE) Aerospace on August 17, 2021.

Ironically, when HAL placed this order, GE Aerospace had already shut down the F404-IN20 production line after fulfilling prior commitments by delivering 65 engines for the Tejas LCA by 2016, with no further orders anticipated at that time.

HAL’s August 2021 order for an additional 99 engines required reactivation of the dormant line and vendor supply chain after a five-year hiatus. The reactivation faced further challenges because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, there was a significant delay, and the first engine arrived only in March 2025.

Having resumed production in 2024, GE is now producing just a few F404 engines per month.

HAL likes to attribute LCA Mk-1A delivery timeline slippages entirely to “supply chain constraints” in the production of GE F404 engines. In reality, the slippages are largely attributable to delays in developing the Tejas Mk-1A, which led to the shutdown of the GE F404 production line. The truth is, HAL is still not ready to deliver LCA Mk-1A aircraft because of pending weapons trials.

Additional Order

The MoD, on September 26, 2025, signed a ₹62,370 crore contract with HAL for the procurement of 97 LCA Mk-1A aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF), including 68 fighters and 29 twin-seaters, along with associated equipment.

Delivery of these aircraft will commence during 2027–28 and be completed over a period of six years. The aircraft will have an indigenous content of over 64%, with 67 additional items incorporated over and above the previous LCA Mk-1A contract.

To fulfil the additional order, HAL announced on November 7, 2025, that it had signed a deal with GE Aerospace for 113 F404-IN20 engines. The deal, estimated to be worth $1 billion, includes a support package for execution of the programme.

The engine deliveries will take place between 2027 and 2032, HAL said in a statement on X.

According to the HT report, HAL is confident of making good on the timeline slippages in the years ahead.

HTT-40 Orders

During DefExpo 2022, HAL and the IAF signed an agreement for the supply of 70 HTT-40 trainers to the IAF for basic training.

The Ministry of Defence, on March 7, 2023, signed a contract with HAL for the supply of 70 HTT-40 Basic Trainer Aircraft.

Reportedly, HAL was to deliver the first trainer by September 2025 and a total of 12 trainers by March 2026. Supply of all 70 aircraft on order was to be completed over a period of six years.

TPE331-12B Engines

In July 2022, HAL signed a $100 million contract with Honeywell for 88 engines to power the HTT-40. Under the contract, Honeywell would deliver 32 engines, with the rest to be built at HAL through technology transfer.

Notably, HAL placed the order on Honeywell based on its DefExpo 2022 agreement with the IAF, without waiting for a formal contract from the MoD.

According to the HT report, the first engine is expected to arrive in January 2026, another four by March 31, and the rest at the rate of two per month.

HT also reports that two series-production HTT-40s are already flying with “Category B” (used) TPE331-12B engines, earlier fitted on prototype aircraft.

Copyright © Vijainder K Thakur. First published on Thumkar.

Russia's LO Checkmate! No One Saw it Coming!

 

Via Twitter

Introduction

Russia's Sukhoi is company funding development of a LO supermaneuverable optionally manned single engine lightweight (18 t) Mach 2 fighter that will be unveiled at MAKS 2021

On July 12, 2021, days ahead of MAKS 2021, Russia's Rostec announced:

“The United Aircraft Corporation will present a fundamentally new military aircraft on July 20 - on the first day of the MAKS-2021 International Aviation and Space Salon in the city of Zhukovsky”

Rostec also released the following teaser video 

Ростех представит на МАКС-2021 принципиально новый военный самолет ОАК - YouTube

The video suggested that the new fighter was pitched at countries like India, Vietnam, Argentina and the UAE.

( I believe a LO short range super maneuverable fighter better meets IAF's defensive requirements that fighters such as F-22, F-35 or Su-57).

A day later, photographs of the fighter (or its mockup?) being towed ensconced in a shroud appeared on the web.

Features

Going by the photograph above and the teaser video on YouTube, Russia's "Checkmate" features a LO V-tail that would provide some degree of yaw and pitch control. Additional yaw and pitch control required for super maneuverability would likely be provided by thrust vectoring.

Surprisingly, based on the photograph above, the fighter does not feature stealthy shaped exhaust. The S-70 Okhotnik was shown at MAKS 2019 with shaped exhausts.

History

Russian aviation industry officials have alluded to a new LO fighter since 2017 (with development having started in 2015), yet western media, inclined to be in denial of Russian advances in aviation technology, was completely surprised by the new Russian stealth fighter. It's likely, Western intelligence too was caught off guard. As such, Russia's chosen name for the fighter - Checkmate - is doubly apt.

On May 26, 2021, TASS reported quoting an industry source that Russia is developing its first single-engine low-observable light tactical fighter aircraft.

"The Sukhoi company is developing a single-engine light tactical plane with the takeoff weight of up to 18 tonnes. The plane’s maximum speed will be above 2 Mach. It will also have super-maneuverability and improved takeoff and landing performance, thanks to a thrust vector control engine. The plane’s thrust-to-weight ratio will be above 1," the source said.

In December 2020, Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov told reporters that the company was working on the concept of an advanced, optionally manned, single-engine light-and medium-class.

"Work is underway to develop a combat aviation system of the future in its light and medium classes. Under the design, this may be a universal platform in the manned and unmanned versions. The company is working on the concept and the operational requirements for such a platform. We are doing this on our own initiative so far, without [federal] budget funds," the Rostec chief said.

In a news report on May 25, 2020, Pravda reported that Russia started development of a multi-purpose stealth fighter - MiG LMFS - in 2015.  The fighter is conceived as a replacement for the MiG-29 and MiG-35 aircraft and will be based on the technology used for the development of the Soviet MiG-1.44, which was far ahead of its time.

"MiG-LMFS" is designed with front horizontal stabilizers. They will be placed just above the wing to stabilize air flow in front of it. As it is believed, the aircraft should have a triangular wing and a V-tail. With a takeoff mass of about 15 tons, it will be able to take up to 5 tons of payload, for example, medium-range K-77M missiles.

The airplane will be armed with a 30 mm caliber cannon. The fighter is to be equipped with two VK-10M turbojet units with a total thrust of 20 tons. In the future, a single Product-30 engine with the afterburner power of 18 tons can be used. This engine was developed for the Sukhoi Su-57 fighter and currently undergoes flight tests.

The MiG-LMFS would feature internal carriage of weapons, have a range of 4,000 km and a top speed of 2,500 kph.

Earlier in 2017, Sergey Chemezov, the head of Rostec, told reporters about plans to develop a 5th gen fighter based on the MiG-29 with the United Arab Emirates. 

Kravchenko confirmed MiG was involved on three major development programs — a “prospective plane,” a long-range interceptor and a UAV — but would not elaborate on activities related to a potential fifth-gen jet. [source]