Indian Air Force’s (IAF) domestically manufactured fighter aircraft, Tejas, crashed on Tuesday in the western state of Rajasthan.
Tejas was inducted nearly eight years ago and it is the first such incident. In a statement, the IAF confirmed that the plane crashed and the pilot ejected safely.
“A Court of Inquiry has been constituted to find out the cause of the accident,” the statement added. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been advocating for local manufacturing as the country aims to diminish its status as one of the world’s leading importers of defense equipment.
In a conversation with Reuters, an IAF officer stated that yesterday’s crash has broken the aircraft’s safety record since its first test flight more than two decades ago.
Last year, Modi set ambitious targets to more than triple the value of annual defense exports to $5 billion by 2025 from 2023 levels. Furthermore, his government has also made diplomatic efforts to export the Tejas.
The state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited was awarded a contract worth $6 billion in 2021 to manufacture 83 Tejas jets. The Tejas has faced numerous design and other challenges. It was rejected by the Indian Navy in the past due to concerns about its weight.
That is why Pakistan is not developing any local engine and local space rockets. India should follow Pakistan’s example and should buy these parts from abroad. If you develop them locally then sometimes failures can occur.