India’s Tejas fighter jet gets US engines to battle Pakistan’s Chinese air power

India has secured a contract with the US to supply engines for its indigenous Tejas fighter jets, reinforcing defence ties despite trade tensions – even as military analysts say that Pakistan’s superior Chinese-supplied warplanes remain a formidable threat. State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Friday announced it had signed an agreement with US-based General Electric Company (GE) for the supply of 113 F404-GE-IN20 engines and a support package for India’s Tejas Mk1A light combat aircraft fleet. Deliveries are scheduled between 2027 and 2032. The deal was signed despite US President Donald Trump’s imposition of a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods, following trade disagreements over New Delhi’s imports of discounted Russian oil. The tariffs, implemented in two phases in August, have delayed a comprehensive trade accord between the two countries. The engine agreement reflects the resilience of US-India defence cooperation, according to C. Uday Bhaskar, a former Indian naval officer and head of the Society for Policy Studies think tank in New Delhi. “The deeper inference” was that the US-India strategic partnership first envisioned by the Bush administration in 2008 “is being accepted by the Trump team”, Bhaskar told This Week in Asia. “One hopes that there will be no U-turns in the near future.” If the technology transfer envisaged under the GE deal materialised, it could catalyse India’s bid to indigenously develop next-generation fighter engines, Bhaskar said. “But there are many domestic techno-industrial challenges that India would have to surmount [first].” This is HAL’s second F404 engine contract with GE, following a 2021 agreement valued at around US$716 million for 99 engines supporting the initial production run of 83 Tejas Mk1A aircraft. Deliveries under that arrangement have been delayed, with only one engine having been supplied as of March, though 12 more are expected by the end of this year. Together, the two deals cover engine supplies for nearly 180 Tejas Mk1A fighters, ensuring continuity in production. The deal shows the enduring value of US-India defence ties despite friction at the leadership level, according to political scientist Christopher Clay, an associate professor at the University at Albany and a non-resident fellow at the Stimson Centre think tank in Washington. “Tejas Mk1A was designed with the F404 in mind, and any change at this point would greatly slow and complicate the programme,” he said. The Tejas Mk1A is intended to replace India’s ageing MiG-21s – derogatorily known as “flying coffins” for their poor safety record – whose retirement has reduced the Indian Air Force’s fighter strength to 29 squadrons, well below the sanctioned 42. Kartik Bommakanti, a senior fellow with the Observer Research Foundation’s strategic studies programme in Delhi, said the HAL-GE agreement showed that the India-US defence relationship remained intact despite trade disagreements. He said it supported India’s indigenisation drive by providing the air force with a largely home-grown light fighter capable of quick interception, even if the engine was supplied from abroad. “It also helps meet the squadron shortfall the IAF fleet faces,” Bommakanti said. Antoine Levesques, senior fellow for South and Central Asian defence at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, called the arrangement an “unmissable corrective” to pessimism about bilateral defence ties. “India cares about its needs and the US’ demonstrated willingness to provide sustainable, reliable and uninterrupted deliveries at a time when the Indian Air Force frontline aircraft numbers are well under requirement,” he said. Levesques said the deal showed both sides were comfortable holding the other to higher expectations. The Indian Air Force … will draw confidence from the agreement Antoine Levesques, defence analyst “The Indian Air Force … will draw confidence from the agreement that it can now effectively arrest and reverse the decline in its overall aircraft numbers and have a maturing Indian aircraft design entering service in significant numbers for the first time,” he said. Foreign affairs analyst Robinder Sachdev, founder of the Imagindia Institute think tank in Delhi, said the fact that the deal was finalised while punitive US tariffs remained in place reflected a conscious effort by both governments to insulate strategic defence cooperation from trade disputes. For Washington, it represented both an export success and a reaffirmation of India’s key role in the Indo-Pacific security architecture, he said. For Delhi, it showed that the US was a dependable supplier of high-end aerospace technology regardless of commercial tension. Pakistan’s Chinese edge India currently deploys Rafale and MiG-29 fighters alongside Jaguars and Mirage 2000s, but defence analysts say Pakistan’s Chinese-made aircraft still enjoy certain technical advantages. The Pakistan Air Force operates multiple Chinese models, including the JF-17 Thunder and the more advanced Chengdu J-10C as well as older F-7PG fighters. Bommakanti said the Tejas Mk1A’s Astra I beyond-visual-range missiles with an 80km to 110km (50 miles to 70 miles) range lagged behind the JF-17’s longer-reaching PL-15, capable of 200km to 300km (120 miles to 190 miles). However, India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation is testing an upgraded Astra II, which is expected to be integrated into Tejas platforms by 2027-28, followed by a ramjet-powered Astra III with an estimated 350km (220-mile) range. Equipped with an advanced AESA radar, modern electronic-warfare suite and air-to-air refuelling capability, the Tejas Mk1A represents the cornerstone of India’s 4.5-generation fighter fleet, analysts say. Sachdev said that while Pakistan’s JF-17 Block III fighter currently enjoys a range advantage, the Tejas leads in radar sophistication, electronic warfare capabilities and longer-term upgrade potential. “With Astra Mk-2’s arrival, Tejas is positioned to achieve parity, and potentially surpass, the JF-17’s long-range missile envelope,” he said.

India’s Tejas fighter jet gets US engines to battle Pakistan’s Chinese air power

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The deal cements defence ties amid tariff tensions, even as analysts say Pakistan’s Chinese-made fighters still hold a technological edge

The deal cements defence ties amid tariff tensions, even as analysts say Pakistan’s Chinese-made fighters still hold a technological edge