GE Ships Four More F404 Engines for Tejas Mk1A: Why Engine Delays Are Holding Back India's Fighter Plans
On 7 October 2026, US company GE Aerospace announced that it had shipped four F404-IN20 engines to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in September 2026 for the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk1A.
With this shipment, GE has sent seven F404-IN20 engines in the last two months. HAL had received 10 engines before this shipment, out of 99 engines GE must deliver under a 2021 contract.
At least 25 Tejas airframes (the body of the aircraft, without engines) are ready, and HAL is waiting for engines. Delays in engine supply have in turn delayed aircraft deliveries to the Indian Air Force (IAF).
In February 2021, the Ministry of Defence signed a Rs 48,000 crore contract with HAL for 83 Tejas Mk1A jets (73 fighters and 10 trainers), to be delivered within eight years. As of this news, HAL has not delivered a single Mk1A to the IAF.
The Chief of the Air Staff recently said the delay is hurting the IAF because its number of fighter squadrons is falling. The Ministry of Defence has called for realistic project timelines, warning that delays raise costs and the risk of technology becoming outdated.
Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas: India's Indigenous Fighter
The Tejas is a small, light, single-engine fighter jet designed and built in India. It is designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) under the Ministry of Defence, and built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bengaluru. It is a 4.5-generation, multi-role jet, meaning it can fight other aircraft and also attack ground targets. The Tejas uses a US-made GE F404 engine, which is why engine supply decides how fast India can build these jets.
The Tejas Mk1A airframes are ready, but the jets cannot fly without engines, and those engines come from GE. The slow arrival of F404 engines is the main reason the IAF has not yet received a single Mk1A, even as its fighter squadrons keep shrinking.
Kaveri Engine Programme
The Kaveri is a jet engine that India started developing on its own in 1989 to power the Tejas fighter. It is being developed by the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Bengaluru. Its official name is GTX-35VS Kaveri. The Kaveri could not reach the power needed for the Tejas, so the Tejas uses an American engine instead. But the programme gave India valuable experience, and a version of it is now being developed for an unmanned combat drone.
The slow trickle of F404 engines from GE is a direct result of the Kaveri's failure to power the Tejas, which left India dependent on a foreign supplier. The delay of the Tejas Mk1A, despite ready airframes, has renewed the push for India to master its own fighter engine through the Kaveri line and the planned AMCA engine.
- GE Aerospace shipped 4 F404-IN20 engines in September 2026; 7 engines in the last two months
- HAL had received 10 engines before this shipment, out of 99 ordered in 2021
- At least 25 Tejas Mk1A airframes ready, awaiting engines
- 83 Tejas Mk1A contract: February 2021, Rs 48,000 crore (73 fighters + 10 trainers), delivery within 8 years
- 97 more Tejas Mk1A contract: September 2025, about Rs 62,370 crore
- 113 more F404 engines ordered: November 2025
- IAF fighter squadrons: about 29 against a sanctioned 42 (after MiG-21 retirement on 26 September 2025)
- Kaveri: sanctioned 1989, delinked from Tejas in 2008