HAL Tejas to get two GE F404 engines a month as India seeks manufacturing rights
July 8, 2025
A decisive nudge from India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh may have just reignited the country’s combat aircraft production plans.
The United States is now expected to ensure uninterrupted deliveries of GE Aerospace F404 engines to India through to March 2026. These power India’s homegrown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), the HAL Tejas, and will be delivered on a two-a-month schedule.
It’s a move that comes not just as a supply chain fix, but as a strategic signal for deeper Indo-US aerospace cooperation.
Following an 18-month delay in engine supplies, the first F404 unit was delivered in April 2025, with another due this July. From August, General Electric (GE) is scheduled to deliver two engines per month, supporting HAL’s production of the Tejas Mark 1A variant.
“The US will deliver F404 engines continuously till March 2026,” confirmed India’s Defence Secretary R K Singh, speaking to CNBC-TV18. “These will be used to meet HAL’s target to deliver 12 Tejas Mk1A aircraft by the end of FY2026.”
This marks a critical course correction for India’s fighter jet production, which has been hampered by slow engine supplies and internal manufacturing delays.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has consistently pressed HAL to speed up deliveries of the 83 Tejas Mk1A jets ordered in 2021. The IAF Chief Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh recently reiterated the need to induct 35-50 aircraft annually to address fleet shortfalls.
Engine restart, strategic reset for the Tejas
The F404-IN20, a special high-thrust variant of GE’s engine family, has been powering the Tejas LCA programme since the early 2000s. However, once GE delivered 65 engines by 2016, the line was shuttered due to a lack of follow-on orders.
Restarting the dormant line in 2021, amid the pandemic, proved challenging.
“We had to re-engage a global supply chain and overcome long lead times,” said Shawn Warren, Vice President and General Manager of GE Aerospace’s combat and trainer engines unit. “But using our Flight Deck lean model, we have ramped up output and removed bottlenecks.”
The April 2025 delivery, though belated, was the first tangible result of these efforts. A steady supply over the next 12-18 months will allow HAL to move beyond prototypes and ramp into full-rate production for the IAF.
India pushes for tech transfer for future Tejas engines
The current delivery schedule was catalysed by a telephone call between Rajnath Singh and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on July 1. Singh is said to have personally urged faster deliveries of the F404s and pressed for movement of the joint production of GE’s more advanced F414 engines.
The F414 will power the Tejas Mk2 and eventually India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), a 5th-generation stealth platform still in the design and prototyping phase. Each AMCA will use two F414 engines, making this agreement foundational to the programme.
“We were asked to push the limit in terms of technology transfer,” Warren noted, hinting at the depth of the upcoming agreement.
According to an official at India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD), talks for complete technology transfer of the F414 engines are almost concluded on the technical side, though price negotiations are still underway.
Making jet engines in India
India’s long game is clear: self-reliance in jet engine manufacturing, a capability that only a handful of nations currently possess.
The ongoing collaboration with GE may represent the closest India has come to securing not just assembled power plants, but the know-how to make them domestically.
Back in 2021, HAL placed a $64 million order for 99 F404 engines for the Mk1A fighters.
That contract is now being executed with urgency, thanks to both high-level diplomatic engagement and GE’s revived production capability.
The F404 itself has a storied history in India. First selected for the LCA Tejas programme in 2004, it powered the LCA’s maiden flight in 2008, taking the aircraft to Mach 1.1 in early tests. Customised extensively with Indian teams, the IN20 variant has flown in every LCA since.
But the future lies in the twin-engine F414, which delivers more thrust, increased endurance, higher altitude performance, key for the Tejas Mk2 and AMCA platform.
“The F414 will be a building block for India’s next-gen fighters. Its joint production will be a game-changer,” said the MoD official.
The broader agreement for F414 engines will also form the basis of long-term joint development, with India expected to handle final assembly and some component manufacturing, an essential milestone under the Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat (a self-reliant India) initiatives.
Technology transfer could be gamechanging for India
India’s defence manufacturing aspirations have often been mired in delays and half-delivered promises. But the current push for engine autonomy, powered by high-level diplomacy and concrete contracts, may mark a turning point.
If GE meets its delivery targets and the F414 agreement is sealed with substantial tech transfer, India could enter a new league, not just assembling aircraft, but mastering the heart of flight itself.
In fighter jets, power defines performance. And now, India may finally be taking control of the throttle.
