India’s domestically produced Tejas fighter jet suffered a major crash at the Dubai Air Show.
This was the second major disaster involving Tejas. The first one occurred in 2024 in the western state of Rajasthan. The aircraft was inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2016.
The pilot ejected safely, the IAF confirmed in a statement, underscoring the effectiveness of emergency protocols even as questions mount over the jet itself.
The Tejas, a light combat aircraft developed and manufactured domestically by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in collaboration with the Aeronautical Development Agency, was part of India’s long-term push to modernize its largely Soviet-era fleet.
The jet, whose name means ‘flame’ or ‘brilliance’ in Sanskrit, has faced design and operational challenges in the past and was once rejected by the Indian Navy for being too heavy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has championed local defence manufacturing and set ambitious goals to increase annual defence exports to $5 billion by 2025. The Tejas has been central to these efforts, with the government awarding a $6 billion contract in 2021 for 83 jets.
The back-to-back crashes have cast a shadow over India’s domestic programme and its export ambitions.
