American Defense Manufacturing Company GE Aerospace has supplied another jet engine to the public sector aerospace company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for its light fighter aircraft Tejas program.
India gets fourth engine for Tejas fighter jet
Officials said on Wednesday (1 October 2025) that the American company had supplied an AF404-Indian engine to HAL about three weeks ago. He said that another engine was supplied on 30 September.
Officials said that in the next few weeks, HAL will hand over two Tejas MK1A Jet aircraft to the Indian Air Force. In February 2021, the Ministry of Defense signed a deal of Rs 48,000 crore with HAL for the purchase of 83 Tejas MK-1 A jet for the Indian Air Force.
This year the possibility of getting 12 JE-404 jet engine
The Indian Air Force is considering incorporating these war aircraft, as its number of fighter squadrons has come down from officially 42 to 31. Tejas is a single engine with a multi-purpose fighter aircraft capable of flying even in a high-covered environment.
HAL got a third jet engine in September last month. HAL is likely to get a total of 12 JE-404 jet engines by the end of this financial year. All these engines will be installed in Indian fighter aircraft Tejas Mark-1A.
Order for construction of Tejas MK-1A aircraft
The Indian Air Force has ordered the construction of Tejas MK-1A aircraft, which will be delivered in the coming years. These aircraft will be equipped with modern avionics, better weapon capacity and advanced electronic warfare system. A new contract has been recently made to supply fighter aircraft to the Indian Air Force.
According to this agreement, 97 indigenous light combat aircraft will be provided to the Indian Air Force at a cost of more than 62 thousand crore rupees. The Ministry of Defense has signed a contract of Rs 62,370 crore with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to supply these fighter aircraft with 97 indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas MK-1A. According to the contract, these include 68 single-seater fighter aircraft and 29 twin-seater trainer aircraft.