Overview

• Hyderabad-based VEM Technologies handed over a second centre fuselage to HAL on 4 September, produced just three months after its first unit, with 1,595 parts cleared by HAL inspectors during manufacture.
• VEM says it will deliver three more fuselages this financial year and is scaling facilities toward roughly one unit per month, including a new robotic jig due by year-end.
• HAL plans to deliver the first two Mk-1A fighters to the IAF in October contingent on weapon firing trials later this month, following software changes after a previous test failure.
• Engine availability remains the main constraint, with GE having delivered two F404 engines so far and pledging 10 more by March 2026, then 20 per year thereafter.
• India’s private suppliers, including L&T for wing assemblies, have provided key structures as HAL expands lines in Bengaluru and Nashik, while the IAF has received 38 of 40 Mk-1 jets and awaits the first of 83 Mk-1A aircraft.