In a broadside that was most unusual in India’s present political climate that stifles public discourse, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh sought accountability and urgency in India’s defence procurement and manufacturing processes. He was evidently reflecting the wider unspoken opinion of all the three services when he said at an event in New Delhi, “Many times, we know while signing contracts that those systems will never come,” adding that not a single project he can think of has been completed on time. Questioning why unrealistic timelines are promised at the time of signing contracts, he remarked, “Why should we promise something which cannot be achieved?”
Botched plans have greatly hindered the Naval Air Arm of the Indian Navy (IN) that comprises 23 squadrons of fixed-wing and rotor aircraft envisaged to force multiply the Navy’s strategic reach and operational horizons.
A casualty has been the naval version of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas (Hindi for ‘radiance’), which was to have replaced the IN’s vintage British Aerospace first-generation Sea Harriers, 30 of which were procured in 1983 and retired over three decades later, by 2016.
The Tejas programme had started with the establishment of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in 1984. The first 12 of the ADA-designed 4.5 generation multirole, all-weather, single-engine, delta-wing Tejas Mk-1A, produced by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), are scheduled for delivery to the Indian Air Force (IAF) only later this year.
The carrier-borne version of Tejas (LCA (Navy)) was, however, still-born as the then Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Admiral Sunil Lanba, rejected it in 2016 for “not meeting timelines” and being plagued by “further delays”. He also cited concerns about its ability to meet carrier-capability requirements. The Navy found the Tejas lacking the requisite thrust-to-weight ratio for taking off from an aircraft carrier with a full load of weapons and fuel.
Tejas (LCA (Navy)) a non-starter
The Tejas will thus not be operated from either of the two functioning carriers, INS Vikramaditya, the 44,500t ex-Soviet modified Kiev-class flat-deck commissioned in 2013, and the 45,000t INS Vikrant, the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-1), which entered service in 2022 and which has since become the IN flagship. A follow-on IAC-II, tentatively named Vishal, is at the proposal stage and there has already been so much dithering that if it at all materialises, it will not serve as a third carrier but as replacement for the already vintage INS Vikramaditya, which was originally Admiral Gorshkov, the keel of which was laid in 1978 and commissioned in the Soviet navy in 1987.
The Tejas programme was further jinxed, linked as it was with what was to be India’s first indigenously produced aero-engine, named Kaveri, which was eventually terminated after draining US$440 million on design and development that was initiated in 1989. It had failed to meet the required parameters to power a fighter, generating a thrust-force of only 70.4 kN (kiloNewton) – the thrust the engine can deliver when a fighter needs maximum power - instead of the required 81 kN.
It seems that the more the Narendra Modi government avows ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India), the more it turns to foreign substitutes for its failed programmes. As an unstated admission of failure in the pursuit of Kaveri, the government turned to GE Aerospace for its GE F404, and more recently F414, fighter jet engines.
With the navalised Tejas falling through, the Navy posted a global Request for Information (RFI) in 2017 for 57 Multi-Role Carrier-Borne Fighters (MRCBFs) that led to the shortlisting of two fighters, Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet and Dassault Aviation’s Rafale M (Marine).
Rafale M eventually won out, but New Delhi on 28 April signed a piecemeal intergovernmental agreement with Paris for the outright purchase of only 26 – instead of the required 57 – Rafale Ms. To be deployed exclusively on INS Vikrant, only 22 single-seater Rafale Ms will operate from the carrier, the remaining four being land-based twin-seat trainers. The deal was worth €6.5 billion, about €250 million for each of these 4.5-generation multirole fighters, with deliveries starting five years after signing of the contract.
With the shortfall in procurement, the Navy’s long-standing capability gap will remain. It moreover underscores India’s disjointed approach to military procurement, as the government had in 2016 similarly truncated the IAF’s dire need for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) when it abruptly signed a deal with France for only 36 Dassault Rafales.
Options were possibly exercised for 26 Rafale Ms to serve as an interim solution until the Navy’s Twin Engine Deck-Based Fighter (TEDBF) is ready. Not unexpectedly, this programme – currently classified as a 4th-generation+ or 4++-generation fighter aircraft – too is delayed, and it may take well over a decade for the first fighters to enter service, making the acquisition of additional Rafale Ms in the interim very likely. Moreover, it is likely that by the time the entire TEDBF fleet is operational, the Navy might have to pay off its then ageing Rafale Ms.
The TEDBF programme is in the design phase at present, with the Preliminary Design Review slated for completion in June, followed by the Critical Design Review. The initial timeline has been pushed back from 2034 to 2038 due to the complexity of the design and integration requirements. The TEDBF will initially be powered by F-414 engines, with a potential upgrade to an indigenous 110kN engine. The IN had initially projected a requirement for 145 TEDBFs for a three-aircraft-carrier fleet, but revised it down to 87, considering it will have only two functioning aircraft carriers at any point of time.
CAG rips apart MiG 29K
The present frontline carrier-based fighters are the 45 Mikoyan MiG 29K/KUBs. They are armed with air-to-air, air-to-ground and air-to-sea missiles. The MiG-29K and its two-seat variant, the MiG-29KUB, are naval derivatives of the MiG-29M and are considered 4++-generation fighter aircraft.
In an initial $740 million deal, 16 MiG 29K/KUBs were inducted in 2010. Twenty-nine more were procured between 2012 and 2016 under a $1.2 billion contract.
However, in a scathing report in 2016, India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) cited “operational deficiencies” in the MiG 29K/KUB fleet, including issues with its RD MK-33 engines, airframe, and the fly-by-wire system, leading to “very low availability”. “These problems have led to concerns about the fleet’s long-term viability and the need for a replacement,” reported the constitutional authority. “The aircraft were being technically accepted despite having discrepancies/anomalies.”
Also released during Aero India 2025 was the vision document, ‘Atmanirbhar Indian Naval Aviation Technology Roadmap 2047’, which projects a fleet of over 400 aircraft over the next two decades, from the present approximately 300. It also acknowledges the importance of global partnerships for technology transfers, joint research, and collaborative development projects.
It is hoped the vision document can deliver as much as it promises. The Navy, after all, has also been disadvantaged by extensive delays in the selection of rotorcraft, despite grant of Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) in 2005 for the procurement of new naval helicopters.
The Navy’s helicopter fleet has consequently been so constricted that warships like the Kolkata-class destroyers are operating without anti-submarine helicopters on board. The hardpressed Navy was in 2021 compelled to issue an RFI to foreign vendors and authorised leasing firms for leasing 24 naval utility helicopters (NUHs).
While the helicopter component will be commented upon in a separate article, it is China’s naval build-up that poses severe concern to not only India and other countries in the Asia-Pacific, but also to the supreme global power, the United States.
The Chinese threat our Navy should heed
The Congressional Research Service report of April 2025 on ‘China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities – Background and Issues for Congress’ quoted the Department of Defense (DOD) as observing that China’s navy “is the largest navy in the world with a battle force of over 370 platforms [i.e., ships], including major surface combatants, submarines, ocean-going amphibious ships, mine warfare ships, aircraft carriers, and fleet auxiliaries”, the figure not including 60 Houbei-class patrol combatants that carry anti-ship cruise missiles.
China’s primary carrier-based fighter aircraft, the J-15, or Flying Shark, is derived from the Russian Su-33 Flanker. While it has been critiqued for its range/payload limitations in operations from carriers equipped with ski-ramps rather than catapults, China has developed an upgraded catapult-capable version of the J-15 that could have improved range/payload. According to DOD, China is also developing the F-35, a carrier-capable variant of its FC-31/J-31 fifth-generation stealth fighter, to complement or succeed the J-15 on catapult-equipped PLA Navy (PLAN) carriers. China is moreover reportedly developing a carrier-based AEW aircraft, called the KJ-600, that is similar to the US Navy’s carrier-based E-2Hawkeye AEW aircraft.
With the US Pacific Command (PACOM) citing China as “now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States”, the operating
range of the US Navy carrier airwings is an ongoing debate over the future survivability, utility, and cost-effectiveness of aircraft carriers and their airwings.
In an effort to increase the operating range of its carrier airwings, the US Navy is developing the MQ-25 Stingray, a carrier-based UAV for use as a tanker for in-flight refuelling of manned carrier-based aircraft, with a secondary mission of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. There is also the view that the US Navy should do more to increase the operating range of its carrier airwings by developing a stealthy, carrier-based UAV capable of penetrating enemy air defences and striking land targets at very long ranges.
The Indian Navy is evidently heeding these developments.