The Indian Air Force (IAF) has reportedly grounded the entire fleet of about 30 single-seat Tejas jets after a light combat aircraft sustained major damage to its airframe earlier this month.
The incident took place earlier this month, when the Tejas aircraft of the Air Force overshot the runway at a frontline airbase after a suspected brake failure, sources told news agency PTI on Sunday. The pilot of the aircraft ejected safely.
The incident reportedly took place on Feb. 7 when the aircraft was returning to the base after a training sortie. There was no official comment from the IAF regarding the incident.
The insiders told the news agency that the IAF decided to ground the entire fighter aircraft fleet, including about 30 single-seat Tejas jets, post the incident. The move is aimed at carrying out an extensive technical scrutiny.
This was the third accident involving the Tejas jets in the last two years. Previously, two similar incidents were reported in March 2024 and November last year.
During the first incident, the Tejas jet crashed near Rajasthan's Jaisalmer. The second one was reported during the aerial display at the Dubai Airshow in November 2025.
This comes at a time when Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has missed multiple deadlines to supply Tejas Mark 1A variant to the Indian Air Force.
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The Ministry of Defence, in February 2021, had signed a Rs 48,000 crore deal with the company to procure 83 Tejas Mk-1A jets for the Air Force.
Notably, LCA Mk1A is the most advanced version in Tejas and remains equipped with AESA Radar, an EW suite that consists of radar warning and self-protection jamming as well as Digital Map Generator (DMG), Smart Multi-function Displays (SMFD), Combined Interrogator and Transponder (CIT) and Advanced Radio Altimeter.
The 4.5 generation, all-weather and multi-role fighter aircraft has been specifically designed to take up offensive air support, close combat and ground attack role at ease. Among its multiple variants under production and development include single seater fighter and twin-seater trainer aircraft for the IAF, along with a single-seater fighter twin Seater trainer version for the Indian Navy.
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According to PTI, the delay in the delivery of Tejas jets is primarily due to several deadlines that GE Aerospace missed to supply its aero engines to power the jets.
In September last year, the Defence Ministry had inked another deal worth Rs 62,370 crore with HAL. This was done to procure 97 Tejas MK-1A light combat aircraft for the Air Force.
Being a single-engine multi-role fighter aircraft, Tejas is capable of operating in high-threat air environments.
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