Il primo Tejas Mk1A was supposed to reach the Aeronautica militare indiana in February 2024. Almost three years later, the IAF may finally get one in January 2027, just weeks before India’s biggest air show opens in Bengaluru. That is the claim of an exclusive report published by ThePrint on Friday 13 November 2026.
According to ThePrint’s defence correspondent Bhaswar Kumar, sources say the first one or two production jets could be handed over in January, ahead of Aero India 2027. The report has not been confirmed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the Ministry of Defence or the IAF, so for now it is a single-source story, and a cautious one.
Informazioni rapide
- Report: ThePrint exclusive, Friday 13 November 2026 (single source)
- Reclamo: First one or two Tejas Mk1A could be handed to the IAF in January 2027, if everything goes to plan
- Stato: Not confirmed by HAL, the Ministry of Defence or the IAF
- Original target: First delivery due February 2024
- Motore: One GE F404-IN20; 14 of 99 delivered by September 2026, per ThePrint
- Radar: ELTA EL/M-2052 AESA on the first 83 jets, per ThePrint; some functions still pending
- Su ordinazione: 83 (February 2021) plus 97 (September 2025, Rs 62,370 crore)
- Aero India 2027: 8 to 12 February 2027, Air Force Station Yelahanka, Bengaluru
What ThePrint reports
ThePrint quotes a company source saying the programme appears to be on the cusp of meeting certain major requirements. Two requirements are still pending, the report says, including some functions linked to the jet’s Israeli-origin radar. Software and integration problems are being fixed, and the IAF may accept some concessions that would then be closed out after the first one or two jets are handed over.
The radar in question is the ELTA EL/M-2052 active electronically scanned array. ThePrint reports that HAL decided in 2025 to fit all 83 jets of the first batch with the Israeli set rather than DRDO’s home-grown Uttam AESA radar, because certifying Uttam was taking too long. That choice has its critics: on 9 November, Livefist published a story in which a former IAF chief called HAL’s bypassing of Uttam a bad decision.
The engine that held everything up
The single biggest cause of the delay sits outside India. Every Tejas Mk1A is powered by one General Electric F404-IN20 turbofan, and HAL ordered 99 of them from GE in 2021. Deliveries began years late. ThePrint reports that the first engine arrived only in March 2025, and that by September 2026 GE had shipped 14 of the 99.
The airframes were ready long before the engines. The first Mk1A, serial LA5033, made its maiden flight from HAL’s Bengaluru facility on 28 March 2024, an 18-minute sortie. By February 2026, Business Standard was reporting that the type had completed its weapons trials and that five jets were ready for delivery. Afterburner described the strange result in June: a line of finished fighters that the air force still could not take.
180 jets on order
The scale of what is waiting explains why a single handover matters. The Ministry of Defence signed the first Mk1A contract with HAL on 3 February 2021, the opening day of Aero India 2021, for 83 aircraft: 73 single-seat Mk1A fighters and 10 twin-seat trainers. On 25 September 2025 it signed a second contract, worth Rs 62,370 crore, for 97 more, with deliveries of that batch expected from 2027-28.
The need is pressing. ThePrint notes the IAF is down to 29 active fighter squadrons against a sanctioned strength of 42, its lowest in six decades. The new Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, has named the Tejas Mk1A, the Tejas Mk2 and the AMCA stealth fighter, together with Indian sensors and weapons, as the force’s highest priority. He set out that agenda in his first address on 1 November.
ThePrint’s video report on the delivery of the last Tejas Mk1 trainers, 16 years after the IAF ordered them, and what it means for the Mk1A.
A deadline with an audience
Aero India 2027, the 16th edition of the show, runs from 8 to 12 February at Air Force Station Yelahanka in Bengaluru. Handing over the first Mk1A before it opens would give HAL and the government a long-awaited success to put on the flight line in front of foreign delegations, after years of explaining slipped dates.
The caveats are real. The January date depends, in ThePrint’s own words, on everything going to plan, and the Mk1A delivery date has already moved many times since 2024. Engines still arrive slowly, the radar issues are not fully closed, and any concessions will have to be fixed afterwards. If the jet does arrive in January, it will be the start of a long climb towards 180 aircraft, not the end of the story.
Sources: ThePrint, Business Standard, Livefist, Ministry of Defence (Government of India), Aero India 2027 announcements
Header photo: Ministry of Defence, Government of India / Wikimedia Commons, GODL-India
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