Tejas Mk 2 languishes amid lack of funds

India's Tejas Mk 2 fighter aircraft is intended to replace a range of combat aircraft in the Indian Air Force, including the Mirage 2000. The Tejas Mk 2 is also intended to compete with the Saab Gripen internationally. (Janes)

India's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk 2 programme is languishing without funding, months after the project was approved by New Delhi.

The Tejas Mk 2 is intended to provide the Indian Air Force (IAF) with a 4.5-generation medium-weight-class fighter aircraft. The aircraft is designed to be an improvement over the fourth-generation Tejas Mk 1 aircraft currently in IAF service.

India's Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) officially approved the project on 1 September 2022 for development, flight testing, and certification. Janes previously reported that funding of INR66.17 billion (USD809.17 million) was sanctioned.

However, Janes has learnt that the Indian government included a clause in the funding approval stipulating that this money would be released only after the US government approved a 100% transfer of engine technology to India. The clause is related to India's 2010 selection of the General Electric (GE) F414-INS6 engine to power the Mk 2, according to previous disclosures by GE and India's Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) – an agency under the state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

“The clause states that the money will be released if the US government agrees to transfer the technology of the F414-INS6 engine,” a source told Janes .