Aero India 2025: Exports of defence items from India is expected to surpass Rs 30,000 crore in the current financial year of 2025-26, from Rs 21,000 crore at present, even as the country has taken steps to develop advanced defence platforms from fighter planes to missiles, according to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Singh, who was addressing the media on the eve of Aero India 2025 show beginning in Bengaluru on February 10, also said the private sector has been enhanced substantially in the past decade who are now working actively towards safeguarding the country’s national interests.
“When it comes to defence manufacturing, I am delighted to share that our domestic defence production has surpassed a record Rs 1.27 lakh crore. By the end of 2025-26, we expect this figure to exceed Rs. 1.60 lakh crore. Additionally, our defence exports have also crossed a record Rs 21,000 crore, and by the end of 2025-26, we anticipate this figure to surpass Rs 30,000 crore. I am confident that this event will further accelerate our journey toward self-reliance in defence production,” Singh told reporters.
He also said that India today is not only capable of designing and developing major platforms and equipment within the country but “we have also successfully established a vast supply chain within the country. Advanced platforms like LCA Tejas, LCH Prachand, and C-295 are now being produced in India”.
Singh also said that India has been able to take the missile development programe to “new heights”
“From the advanced variants of the Agni missile, the Astra missile system, and the Pinaka missile system to the cutting-edge Hypersonic missile system and the Aakash air defense system, we have built numerous success stories. These achievements have played a crucial role in strengthening our defence sector, making India more self-reliant and secure,” he added.
Speaking at the Curtain Raiser event for #AeroIndia2025 in Bengaluru. https://t.co/kVP3Zx2IHp
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) February 9, 2025
LCA Tejas Programme Facing ‘Delay’
The government, meanwhile, admitted that the LCA Tejas programme is facing a “delay”.
“There has been a delay in supplying LCA Tejas. Now the production line has been stabilised at HAL. Also, the GE-404 engines will be there. Government is committed to Make In India,” said Sanjeev Kumar, Secretary of Defence Production.
Kumar also shed light on India’s long delayed programme to build its own fifth generation fighter plane, also called the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme.
“We are committed to AMCA. We will keep our armed forces ready and prepared,” Kumar said.
The Indian Air Force has been adversely impacted due to delay in deliveries of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk1A owing to its sluggish production by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), and also due to the postponement of the supply of General Electric’s F-404 engines.
The issue was also recently highlighted by Air Chief Marshal AP Singh.
“First (Tejas) aircraft flew in 2001 — 17 years. Then, the induction started another 15 years later — 2016. Today, we are in 2024, I do not have the first 40 aircraft also. This is the production capability. We need to do something. I am very convinced that we need to get some private players in. We need to have competition. We need to have multiple sources available so that people are wary of losing their orders. Otherwise, things will not change,” he said at an event last month.
The AMCA programme, which was previously known as the Medium Combat Aircraft (MCA) programme, is only 5th generation fighter under development in the country at present.
At the Aero India this time, Russia will be displaying their own 5th generation fighter, Su-57 Felon.
The government also did not clearly spell out the status of the multi-billion dollar Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) project under which the IAF aims to procure 114 fighter planes to boost the depleting squadrons.
On Sunday, both Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi and Air Chief AP Singh took a sortie in the LCA Tejas at Yelahanka-based Air Force Station where Aero India will be taking place from February 10-14.
