Expanding LCA Aircraft Production Says HAL Boss While IAF Chief Criticizes LCA Delays

A leaked video from the Bangalore Air Show 2025 showing the Indian Air Force Chief of Staff criticizing delays in the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project has gone viral even as the the boss of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) said it was expanding production to build 24 aircraft per year from next year.

In the You Tube video posted by web portal National Defence, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh can be seen talking to members of HAL’s technical team , “I can only tell you what our requirement and our worries are. You have to alleviate those worries and make us more confident. At the moment I am just not confident of HAL, which is a very wrong thing to happen.”

The video appears to have been filmed while the IAF chief was getting a brief while seated in the cockpit of a HJT-36 Yashas which was launched on February 10.

“HAL is our company, we have all worked there. But I find that HAL is just not in mission mode,” said the IAF chief. “I was promised that when I come here in February, 11 Tejas Mk1As would be ready. And not a single one is ready.”

The IAF chief further criticised HAL by stating that  the LCA Tejas Mk1A jets showcased at the Aero India 2025 show are not Mk1A jets which need to be qualified with weapons.

At HAL’s press conference on February 11, Chairman D.K Sunil stated that the three new production centers had been established to cater to the growing demand for the LCA. In addition, major sub assemblies had been outsourced to private industry to speed up production.