The HAL Tejas Mk1A is the next-generation, production-standard variant of India’s indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) family — a distinct, heavily re-engineered aircraft rather than a simple upgrade package for the earlier Tejas Mk1. Ordered by the Indian Air Force under a landmark 2021 contract and a larger 2025 follow-on order, the Mk1A is intended to become the backbone of the IAF’s future single-engine fighter fleet, replacing retiring MiG-21 squadrons. As of mid-2026 the programme is in its production ramp-up and delivery phase, with the first aircraft yet to be formally inducted into frontline service due to a prolonged engine supply crisis.[1]
The Mk1A traces its lineage to the original Tejas Mk1, a separate aircraft with its own decades-long development and service history that is documented on its own terms elsewhere. In brief: the Light Combat Aircraft programme was conceived in 1983 to replace India’s ageing MiG-21 fleet, with the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) formed in 1984 to manage the project under DRDO.[2] After a prolonged design and development phase, the first Tejas prototype flew in January 2001, the aircraft was officially named “Tejas” (Sanskrit for “radiance”) by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003, and the type received Initial Operational Clearance in 2016 and Final Operational Clearance in 2019, entering service with No. 45 Squadron “Flying Daggers” and No. 18 Squadron “Flying Bullets.”[3] The Tejas Mk1 has its own separate operational and safety record as an already-fielded aircraft. The Mk1A is best understood as a forward-looking successor programme: it carries the Tejas name and airframe lineage, but is a materially different aircraft in radar, avionics, engine standard, weapons integration and production status, and is the subject of this entry.
The Cabinet Committee on Security approved procurement of 73 Tejas Mk1A fighters and 10 Mk1 twin-seat trainers on 13 January 2021, at a cost of approximately ₹45,696 crore, with an additional ₹1,202 crore sanctioned for design, development and infrastructure. The contract, valued at close to ₹48,000 crore (roughly $7 billion), was formally handed to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at Aero India 2021.[1] A second, larger order followed in 2025: the government inked a contract for 97 additional Tejas Mk1A jets, reflecting continued IAF confidence in the type despite the delivery difficulties described below.[23] Combined, the two contracts commit the IAF to receiving up to 180 Mk1A-standard aircraft, making it the largest fighter procurement programme in Indian Air Force history by aircraft count.
The Mk1A retains the Tejas family’s tailless compound-delta configuration, built substantially from aluminium-lithium alloys, carbon-fibre composites and titanium, with composites accounting for roughly 45 percent of airframe weight and about 95 percent of external surface area. The design integrates relaxed static stability with a quadruplex digital fly-by-wire flight control system, allowing high manoeuvrability that would be unachievable with a naturally stable airframe.
Over the baseline Mk1, the Mk1A incorporates more than 40 major upgrades, most significantly a new Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, a Unified Electronic Warfare Suite developed by the Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE), an aerial refuelling probe fitted as standard, and a fully digital glass cockpit paired with a Helmet-Mounted Display System.[1]
The Mk1A is powered by a single General Electric F404-IN20 turbofan, a licence-derived variant of the F404 family that also equips the Tejas Mk1. India’s parallel attempt to develop an indigenous powerplant, the DRDO/GTRE GTX-35VS Kaveri, failed its high-altitude qualification tests in Russia in mid-2004 and was formally delinked from the Tejas programme in September 2008, cementing reliance on the American engine for the current generation of the aircraft.[4]
This dependency has become the single largest bottleneck in the Mk1A programme. GE Aerospace’s F404-IN20 deliveries have run more than two years behind the schedule agreed with HAL: a follow-on batch of five engines due in the first quarter of 2026 was missed, and a sixth delivered engine failed HAL’s post-delivery acceptance checks, leaving HAL with only five serviceable engines despite having more than twenty completed Mk1A airframes sitting in inventory awaiting powerplants.[9][11] HAL has invoked the liquidated-damages clause against GE Aerospace over the delays, and the Ministry of Defence has warned of further contractual penalties.[12] A follow-on contract for 113 additional F404-IN20 engines, signed in late 2025, is intended to support production of the newly ordered 97-jet batch once the supply chain stabilises.[9]
The Mk1A cockpit is built around a fully digital glass cockpit with large-area multi-function displays, replacing the mixed analogue-digital displays of early Mk1 aircraft, and pairs with a Helmet-Mounted Display and Sight System for faster target cueing. The aircraft’s Unified Electronic Warfare Suite, developed by DARE, integrates radar warning, jamming and self-protection functions in a single architecture designed to improve survivability against modern surface-to-air and air-to-air threats.[1]
The first 83 Tejas Mk1A aircraft in the initial contract are being fitted with the Israeli IAI/Elta EL/M-2052 AESA radar, chosen by HAL as a proven interim solution to avoid further delivery delays while the indigenous radar completed development.[14] The indigenous Uttam AESA radar, developed by DRDO’s Electronics and Radar Development Establishment, uses gallium-nitride (GaN) based transmit/receive modules and offers a detection and tracking range of roughly 140 km against fighter-sized targets. As of 2026, Uttam has completed critical flight-test phases and hardware qualification on Tejas Limited Series Production prototypes, clearing the way for serial production. HAL has stated that Uttam is expected to equip the majority of the second batch of 97 Tejas Mk1A aircraft from 2027 onward, reducing the type’s dependence on imported radar hardware.[15]
The Mk1A carries weapons across nine hardpoints with a total external stores capacity of around 5,300 kg. In November 2025, HAL and the IAF announced completion of full weapons integration and live-firing trials, giving the Mk1A what has been described as India’s widest air-to-air missile envelope on a Tejas-family aircraft, spanning the Astra Mk1 beyond-visual-range missile and the ASRAAM short-range missile.[16] Longer term, the type is being cleared for the extended-range Astra Mk2 and the developmental Astra Mk3, the anti-radiation Rudram-1, laser-guided bombs and other precision-guided munitions, with a lighter BrahMos-NG cruise missile under development for eventual integration on Tejas-family airframes once its size and weight are compatible with the aircraft’s hardpoints.
The first Tejas Mk1A prototype flew on 28 March 2024 from HAL’s Bengaluru facility, an 18-minute maiden sortie that marked the aircraft’s transition from paper upgrade to flying hardware.[7] HAL subsequently opened a second final-assembly line at Nashik to increase production throughput, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh formally unveiling the first Nashik-built Mk1A airframe in October 2025.[7] By early 2026, HAL reported that the first 20 Mk1A jets had completed preliminary flight testing and were essentially airframe-complete, awaiting only engines for final IAF induction.
Despite the successful first flight in March 2024, the Mk1A programme has been dogged by delivery delays traced almost entirely to the GE F404-IN20 engine supply chain. HAL originally targeted delivery of the first aircraft by 2023–24; that slipped repeatedly through 2024 and 2025, with GE Aerospace beginning F404 deliveries only after roughly two years of delay.[8] HAL had planned to hand over ten fighters and twelve trainers to the IAF in financial year 2025–26, but by December 2025 that plan had been cut to five fighters and three trainers.[10] As of 7 May 2026, HAL had yet to deliver a single production-standard Mk1A to the Indian Air Force, despite holding six GE F404 engines and more than twenty completed airframes in inventory — a situation one report characterised as India having “built fighters it cannot fly.”[13] HAL has since penalised GE Aerospace under the liquidated-damages clause of their engine supply contract, and a seventh engine cleared quality checks in mid-2026, offering a tentative sign of stabilisation.[12]
The IAF’s induction plan calls for the first Tejas Mk1A squadron to stand up at Nal Air Force Station in Rajasthan’s Bikaner district, with No. 18 Squadron “Flying Bullets” — previously the first operational Tejas Mk1 unit — slated to transition onto the Mk1A standard. Hardstands, shelters and pilot conversion facilities at Nal were reported to be in preparation through 2025 and into 2026 ahead of aircraft arrival.[17] HAL has targeted delivering the first seven production-standard jets to the IAF before the end of financial year 2025–26, with the IAF hoping to raise up to three Tejas Mk1A squadrons by late 2026 if GE’s F404 deliveries stabilise as planned.[18]
Under the newer 97-jet order signed in 2025, the Tejas Mk1A’s unit cost has been reported at roughly $76 million per aircraft, an increase of about 17.6 percent over the 2021 contract’s per-unit pricing, reflecting both technology upgrades (the AESA radar, EW suite and weapons integration) and broader inflation in global fighter jet costs since the pandemic. The aircraft’s flyaway cost — the price of manufacturing the bare airframe itself, excluding weapons and support packages — is estimated separately at around $43 million.[19] Even at the higher figure, the Mk1A remains markedly cheaper than contemporary 4.5-generation and fifth-generation fighters: comparative reporting places the Dassault Rafale at roughly $125 million, the Eurofighter Typhoon at about $117 million, China’s Chengdu J-20 at roughly $110 million, and the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor at around $143 million per unit.[20]
HAL has pursued export interest in the Tejas family from several countries. Argentina has expressed interest in acquiring at least 15 aircraft and has sent pilots to India to evaluate the type, while Egypt has signalled interest in around 20 aircraft alongside establishing a local maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility.[21] The Philippines and Nigeria have also been named by HAL as prospective customers, though no firm export contract for the Tejas had been signed as of mid-2026.[22] India’s bid to sell the Tejas to Malaysia for its light combat aircraft requirement was ultimately unsuccessful, with Malaysia selecting the South Korean KAI FA-50 instead.
Beyond the current Mk1A batches, HAL and ADA are developing the substantially larger Tejas Mk2 (also referred to as the Medium Weight Fighter), a heavier, more capable aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of around 17.5 tonnes — well above the Mk1A’s roughly 13.5-tonne class — powered by the more powerful General Electric F414-INS6 engine rated at about 98 kN of thrust, with full transfer of technology for that engine now complete.[24] As of early-to-mid 2026, the Mk2 has completed structural rollout and is undergoing Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) ground checks, engine runs and taxi trials, with DRDO’s leadership indicating a first flight window in the June–July 2026 timeframe.[24][25] The Mk2 is expected to eventually take over as HAL’s primary single-engine offering for both IAF service and export once it matures, with the Mk1A serving as the bridge aircraft through the 2020s and into the early 2030s.
The Tejas Mk1A represents the IAF’s principal near-term answer to a shrinking fighter squadron strength, as ageing MiG-21 and other legacy types are progressively retired. Its indigenous content, expected to exceed 60 percent by value, and its role as the anchor programme for India’s wider AESA radar, electronic warfare and precision-guidance industrial base give it strategic weight beyond its unit cost. At the same time, the prolonged GE F404 engine delays have become a case study in the risks of import dependency even within an otherwise indigenous fighter programme, reinforcing the case for accelerating India’s own jet engine development for the follow-on Mk2 and beyond.
| Type | Light Multirole Fighter Aircraft |
| Country | India |
| Manufacturer | Hindustan Aeronautics Limited |
| Radar | ELM-2052 (in service, first batch) / Uttam AESA planned from 2027 |
| Engine | 1 x GE F404-IN20 turbofan (~53.9 kN dry / ~84.5 kN with afterburner) |
| Max Take-Off Weight | ~13,500 kg |
| Max Speed | Mach 1.6 |
| Combat Radius | ~500 km |
| Hardpoints / Payload | 9 hardpoints, ~5,300 kg external stores |
| Indigenous Content | 60%+ by value |
| Contract Size | 83 (2021: 73 fighters + 10 trainers) + 97 (2025), ~180 total |
| Unit Cost | ~$76 million (2025 order) |
| Status | In production; delivery delayed by engine supply, first squadron pending as of mid-2026 |
| Service Branch | Indian Air Force |