Question : Tejas Fighter Jets

(a) whether the Government is aware of inordinate delay in the development of the Tejas fighter jets and Kaveri engine;
(b) if so, the details of the amount and time spent on the development of the fighter jet and the Kaveri engine till now;
(c) the reasons for the inordinate delay in the production and stalling of the project;
(d) whether the Government considers it necessary to set up a high-level committee to understand the core issues with Indian Defence production;
(e) if so, the plans of the Government for detailed introspection by the committee; and
(f) whether the Government proposes to develop India as a manufacturing hub for defence equipment and if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE (SHRI SHRIPAD NAIK)
IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
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(a) to (c): Yes, Sir. Government is aware of the timelines for the development of Tejas Fighter Jets & Kaveri Engine. A total amount of Rs.11096.18 Crore (Rs. 9063.96 Crore on Tejas Fighter Jet and Rs.2032.22 Crore on Kaveri Engine) has been spent on these two developments till date. The LCA programme has run for 36 years and Keveri engine development for 30 years. The time taken for these developments is due to complex technological challenges and due to the gradual development of the necessary eco-system. The technical challenges were faced in areas such as advanced avionics, digital fly-by-wire, composites, weapon simulation, testing and integration facilities and non availability of raw materials.
(d) to (f): The initiatives such as promulgation of FDI, Make procedure in DPP, iDEX, indigenisation policy and establishing defence corridor and defence innovation hub have been taken to boost defence production and developing manufacturing capabilities for Defence equipments in order to increase self reliance and minimize the dependency on imports of Defence equipments.

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