Kolkata: Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh has voiced his concerns over delays in major defence procurement projects. While speaking at an official event, Singh said, “Many times, we know while signing contracts that those systems will never come. Timelines are a big issue. Not a single project I can think of is completed on time. Why should we promise something that cannot be achieved?”
He referred to several such cases, especially those that involve indigenous projects. He gave the example of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme, and said deliveries of the Tejas Mk1A fighter jet which is part of a Rs 48,000 crore contract with HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) that was signed in February 2021, remain stalled. He mentioned that not a single aircraft of the 83 ordered have been delivered till now. Originally, delivery was scheduled to start from March 2024.
Singh said that delays impacted many important projects, including the Tejas Mk1A fighter aircraft. While addressing the CII Annual Business Summit where Rajnath Singh was also present, he said, “Deliveries of Tejas Mk1 are delayed. The prototype of Tejas Mk2 is yet to roll out. There is no prototype yet of the stealth AMCA fighter.”
He added, “We cannot just talk about producing in India, we need to talk about designing. We need to have trust between the forces and industry. We need to be very open. Once we have committed to something, we should deliver. Air Force is trying to do its best to make in India.” He further said, “We have to be now-ready to be future-ready. In 10 years, we will have more output from industry, but what we need today, we need today. We need to quickly get our act together. Wars are won by empowering our forces.”
The Air Chief also talked about the changing mode of wars and referred to the Operation Sindoor. Singh said, “Operation Sindoor, as it was told by the Chief of Naval Staff, the character of war is changing. Every day, we are finding new technologies coming in. Operation Sindoor has given us a clear idea of where we are headed and what we need in future. So a lot of work needs to be done in realigning our own thought processes also, which is already going on.”
He added, “In future, we will be able to deliver the goods as a nation, and we will be able to achieve our objectives. AMCA- advanced medium combat aircraft has been cleared for even participation by private industry, which is a very big step, and that is the kind of confidence that the nation has in private industry today, and I’m sure this is going to pave the way to bigger things coming in the future.”
