New Delhi, 08 April (H.S.): The indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft fleet, grounded for nearly two months, has received clearance to resume operations following upgrades to its brake software. Probes into three recent incidents revealed technical flaws, now rectified by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
The fleet's downtime prevented participation in the 'Vayu Shakti' exercise at Pokhran on February 27. The latest mishap occurred on February 7, when a Tejas overshot the runway during takeoff from a western forward base, sliding into a mud ditch; the pilot ejected with injuries.
This marked the third incident: the first near Jaisalmer in March 2024 post-'Vayu Shakti,' and the second in November 2025 during a Dubai Airshow aerobatics display, claiming the pilot's life.
IAF grounded its ~35 single-seat Tejas Mark-1 jets for exhaustive checks, identifying brake software glitches. HAL's review covered undercarriage metallurgy, electromagnetic braking, and software reliant on onboard mission computers for firing, targeting, and radar processing. No full recoding was needed—just targeted upgrades, validated through tests.
HAL Chairman D.K. Sunil confirmed the fixes, enabling flights from April 8.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
