Source: Reuters

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of the Indian Air Force Tejas fighter jet at the Dubai Airshow and extend our heartfelt sympathies to the loved ones of the pilot,” a GE spokesperson said.

Dubai’s government said emergency teams were managing the situation on-site.

First manufactured in 2001 but dating back to studies first carried out two decades earlier, the Tejas was designed as a light combat jet to replace India’s fleet of Russian MiG-21s.

The IAF expects to operate a fleet of almost 220 Tejas fighters and its advanced Mk-1A variants over the next decade after HAL completes the pending orders.

INDIA HAD BEEN GAUGING INTEREST FROM FOREIGN BUYERS

But the rollout of the fighter has been delayed due to slow deliveries of engines from GE, which has blamed supply chain issues faced after COVID-19.

“It is the first fully domestic Indian fighter that is not based on foreign designs,” said British-based defence analyst Francis Tusa, adding that export interest so far had been limited. “There is work on a Tejas Mark II,” he said.

India had been gauging interest from potential foreign buyers at the week-long airshow, a major arena for global arms and airliner markets and well-known for bold displays making use of wide vistas of airspace.

Speaking to India’s ANI news agency in Dubai on Monday, India’s Vice Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari had said that the Tejas participated in the airshow previously and was expected to generate even more interest this year.

“We are expecting that the display this year also will cater to great expectations, not only for the local population but also for the visitors, to at least showcase the capabilities of the aircraft,” he said.

Dubai is the world’s third largest airshow after Paris and Britain’s Farnborough, held in alternate years, and among the most international with Chinese and Russian weapons represented, as well as aircraft from India and its regional rival Pakistan. The accident was the show’s first.

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