DUBAI (Web Desk) – An Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jet, ‘Tejas’, crashed and was destroyed during the Dubai Airshow, resulting in the death of its pilot.
The incident has once again brought global embarrassment for New Delhi, exposing both financial and operational setbacks linked to the Modi government’s repeated claims about the aircraft’s capabilities.
According to reports, the Tejas jet caught fire midair while performing an aerobatic maneuver. Within moments, the aircraft plummeted to the ground and was completely engulfed in flames.
Tejas is India’s first fully indigenous fighter aircraft, with over 50 percent of its components manufactured domestically. However, the aircraft’s long and troubled development history is marked by repeated delays, technical shortcomings, and overestimated capability claims.
The project faced decades of setbacks due to lack of professional expertise and technical capacity, leading to prolonged delays that forced the Indian Air Force to continue flying outdated aircraft. After years of adjustments, Tejas was finally inducted into the IAF fleet last year, but its crash at the Dubai Airshow has raised fresh concerns.
The IAF had earlier claimed that the lightweight fighter was equipped with an advanced locally produced radar and a powerful engine. The Modi government had also asserted that Tejas could carry 8–9 tonnes of payload and fly at speeds 1.8 times faster than sound at altitudes up to 52,000 feet.
India’s Ministry of Defence has valued the contract for 83 Tejas Mark-1A aircraft at ₹45,696 crore, placing the cost of each fighter at approximately ₹550 crore—making it nearly ₹120 crore more expensive than the Sukhoi-30MKI.
Retired Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur noted that the Tejas project was initially launched in 1983, highlighting the extensive delays and challenges that have plagued the program for decades.