India invokes penalty clause against US giant GE for LCA Mk1A engine delivery delay

New Delhi: With staggering delays in the supply of F-404 engines from the US giant General Electric (GE) for home-grown light combat aircraft (LCA) Mk1A fighter projects, India has invoked the contractual obligations on the supplier. Ruling out the involvement of any “politics” or “pressure tactics” from the United States side, the sources said that it was a “pure logistical issue,” which has been delaying the delivery of the engines to the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The sources further added that the GE, currently, has two engines, which would be supplied to the HAL this year. It is expected that the HAL would be able to deliver two LCA Mk1A fighters to the Indian Air Force, which has been desperately required to arrest the depleting number of squadrons. As per the schedule, the HAL had to deliver the first aircraft by February-March this year but it got delayed due to the non-supply of the engine from manufacturer GE side. However, the GE was supposed to give the first engine to the HAL in March 2023. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during their visits to the United States had raised the issue of delay in engine supply. The company had committed to supply the engines from the first quarter of 2025,” sources added. As per the agreement signed in 2021, General Electrics has to deliver 99 F-404 engines to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to power 83 LCA Mk1A combat aircraft, worth USD 716 million. In January 2021, the Defence Ministry gave the order to the HAL for 83 LCA Mk1A for the Indian Air Force, worth Rs 48,000 crore. LCA Tejas is a single-engine, lightweight multi-role fighter, originally meant to replace the Russian-origin Mig 21 fighter aircraft. Now, the LCA family is going to be the mainstay of the force. Earlier this month, Indian Air Force chief ACM AP Singh vented out against the HAL for the delay in the delivery schedule of the fighters, one of the sources said: “Frustration of the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) is understandable,” adding “It is a pure logistics matter which the GE is facing due to problems with its suppliers and it has nothing to do with the HAL.” ACM AP Singh had said during the annual press conference on the occasion of the IAF Day in Delhi: “It is a known fact that Tejas has been delayed. There is no doubt. There is also a promise that the production rate will be increased to 24 aircraft per year. If that promise is kept, I think the delays can be caught up with. The first aim is not to let our aircraft strength go down.” The IAF should have a sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons of combat aircraft but the number has depleted to 30 as of now.