In A First, Private Firm VEM Delivers Tejas Mk1A Centre Fuselage To HAL, Paving Way For Fourth Indigenous Fighter Jet Production Line

In a major step towards accelerating the production of India’s indigenous fighter jet, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Friday (30 May) received the first central fuselage assembly of the LCA Tejas Mk1A from private firm VEM Technologies in Hyderabad.

This is the first time a major sub-assembly for the Tejas has been manufactured by a private Indian company.

The handover ceremony was attended by Secretary (Defence Production) Sanjeev Kumar and HAL CMD D K Sunil.

According to the Defence Ministry, the handover marked a significant milestone in establishing a fourth production line for the LCA Mk1A, in addition to the two existing lines in HAL-Bengaluru and one in HAL-Nashik.

The HAL CMD assured that with major sub-assemblies underway, HAL will increase the production of the LCA aircraft and ensure timely deliveries to the Indian Air Force, the ministry added.

This comes days after IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh questioned the delay in the timely completion of defence procurements.

Speaking at the CII Annual Business Summit on Thursday, the IAF chief pointed out multiple cases of delays, particularly indigenous defence projects.

“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,” Singh said at the event, which was also attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Hindustan Times reported.

HAL has built a national aerospace ecosystem by closely supporting private partners and providing critical inputs such as jigs, fixtures, tools, and technical know-how.

This has enabled companies like L&T, Alpha Tocol, Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL), VEM Technologies, and Lakshmi Machine Works (LMW) to produce complex sub-assemblies such as centre fuselages, fuel drop tanks, pylons, rear fuselages, wings, fins, rudders, and air intakes.

The LCA Tejas Division has already received structural modules of air intake assemblies, rear fuselage assemblies, loom assemblies, and fin and rudder assemblies in the Mk1A configuration, the ministry said.

HAL plans to extend this outsourcing model to future projects, reinforcing its in-house capacity with the expertise of Indian industry.

Under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative, HAL has partnered with over 6,300 Indian vendors, including 2,448 MSMEs to create a robust domestic supply chain.

Over the past three years, HAL has awarded contracts worth Rs 13,763 crore to domestic firms and is working to indigenise critical systems across its aircraft platforms.

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