Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh on Thursday flagged delays in delivery of key defence equipment to the Indian Armed Forces. Addressing an event of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Air Force chief said the timeline is the biggest issue in orders placed for the defence projects.

"Many times, we know while signing contracts that those systems will never come. Timelines are a big issue. Not a single project I can think of is completed on time. Why should we promise something that cannot be achieved?" he said.

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Air Chief Marshal Singh stated that under India's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme, the delivery of Tejas Mk1A fighter jets was yet to commence, despite a Rs 48,000 crore contract signed with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in February 2021. He said the aircraft were originally slated for delivery starting March 2024, but none of the 83 ordered jets have been handed over to the IAF so far.

"Deliveries of Tejas Mk1 are delayed. The prototype of Tejas Mk2 is yet to roll out. There is no prototype yet of the stealth AMCA fighter," he said.

On the government's ambitious 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' initiative, Amar Preet Singh said focus should also be on designing and the Air Force was doing its best to push this through, adding that it was necessary to be future-ready.

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"We cannot just talk about producing in India, we need to talk about designing. We need to have trust between the forces and industry. We need to be very open. Once we have committed to something, we should deliver. Air Force is trying to do its best to make it in India. We have to be now-ready to be future-ready. In 10 years, we will have more output from industry, but what we need today, we need today. We need to quickly get our act together. Wars are won by empowering our forces," he added.