By N. C. Bipindra
Nasik (Maharashtra): India is inching closer to fully replacing the Soviet-era MiG-21 fleet, not just by retiring old jets but by establishing a robust, indigenous alternative.
On October 17, 2025, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh flagged off the first flight of the Tejas Mk1A, India’s home-grown Light Combat Aircraft, making a historic stride in national defence self-reliance.
The aircraft, piloted by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s Test Pilot Group Captain K. K. Venugopal (Retd), took to the skies from HAL’s Nashik facility, greeted with a traditional water-cannon salute.
On the same day, Singh also inaugurated two new production lines at HAL Nashik: the third line for Tejas Mk1A and the second line for the HTT-40 trainer aircraft.
These expansions are intended to accelerate deliveries to the Indian Air Force (IAF) and strengthen India’s aerospace manufacturing base.
A Decade of Growing Self-Reliance
Speaking at the inauguration, Rajnath Singh described the Tejas as “a shining symbol of India’s growing self-reliance in defence,” and noted how the country had shifted from importing almost 70% of critical military hardware to producing around 65% domestically.
He outlined ambitious targets: pushing defence production to INR 3 lakh crore, and exports to INR 50,000 crore by 2029. The past few years have seen production jump from about INR 46,429 crore in 2014-15 to over INR 1.5 lakh crore in 2024-25, with exports already at a record INR 25,000 crore.
HAL Nashik’s New Role and Tejas & HTT-40 Capacity
The Nashik division of HAL has, for decades, been a centre for aircraft work; now it is being transformed. The freshly built Tejas line at Nashik, completed in about two years, is expected to churn out eight aircraft annually, raising HAL’s Tejas total to 24 per year across its facilities.
The HTT-40 line will handle key sub-assemblies for the trainer aircraft: fuselage, wings, control surfaces, etc. HAL also reported creating roughly 1,000 new jobs through these expansions.
Private Industry: The Hidden Backbone
One of the most significant shifts in the Tejas programme is how many private companies have been pulled in to contribute to its supply chain.
HAL, Defence Research and Development Organisation (the Aeronautical Development Agency), and the government have been outsourcing more of the design, manufacture, and supply of critical modules to the private sector. Here are ten of the prominent private industry names, and how they contribute:
These companies are part of a growing ecosystem of over 6,000-plus vendors, including MSMEs, supplying everything from structural modules to avionics, wiring, fasteners, fuel tanks, landing gear parts, etc.
HAL has placed large value contracts with these private vendors, which both improve throughput and build national capability.
Why This Matters
By spreading out the responsibility of producing Tejas across HAL and the private industry:
India avoids bottlenecks that come when a single organisation tries to make every part. Outsourcing helps with scale and with meeting delivery schedules.
It builds up capacity and technical know-how in the private sector, so the next fighter, trainer, UAV, or other platform can draw on a more mature ecosystem.
It strengthens Make-in-India / Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) goals: both in defence readiness and in creating export potential.
Rajnath Singh urged HAL and its partners not to rest on Tejas and HTT-40 success, but push further into next-generation technologies: unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, and more advanced fighters.
The transformation of Nashik — from being known for old jets like MiGs and Su-30s to being a hub of indigenous aerospace effort — is not just symbolic, but structural.
India’s journey from retiring its MiG-21 fleet to launching Tejas Mk1A in full production lines, backed by both public and private sectors, shows a maturing aerospace industry.
With private players increasingly playing central roles, not just as subcontractors, but as trusted makers of major components, India seems better equipped than ever to build, not just buy, its security.
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