Production of Tejas Mark 1A disrupted as IAF sits on HAL's proposal

The Defence Procurement Procedure of 2016 (DPP-2016) requires the TEC to complete its evaluation in 10 weeks. It has already been with the IAF for 10 months

For 10 months now, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd’s (HAL’s) proposal to manufacture 83 Tejas Mark 1A fighters, which the ministry of defence (MoD) green-lighted in December 2017, has been pending with the Indian Air Force (IAF).
 

With no clearance forthcoming from the IAF’s “technical evaluation committee” (TEC), the project remains in limbo. HAL’s commercial bid remains unopened and an actual production order, at a price to be fixed by a “cost-negotiating committee”, is nowhere in sight.

This Tejas Mark 1A order, worth Rs 50,000 crore in the estimation of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, constitutes half the orders worth Rs 100,000 crore