Tejas Mk2 was not delayed.
If Govt refuse to disperse the funds, how would engineers do the prototyping.
The day funds are released, actually at that date actual R&D start.
Before that all is chaff and flare.
Well, based on all claims and official announcements it is delayed. Period!
It was always claimed since months if not since more than a year, the first prototype would be already under construction: Per common reports, metal-cutting for the first Tejas Mk. 2 prototype started in February 2021. The "roll out" of this prototype was scheduled for August 2022, but has been postponed to end of 2022 and its maiden flight was expected to be in late 2023.
however - and that's indeed correct - only on September 1, 2022, the CCS cleared ₹10,000 crore for the Tejas Mk 2 that includes prototype development and flight testing. ... as such the delays and still HAL planned high speed taxi trials from 2023 on and limited series production from 2025 on.
As such all along in 2022 it was maintained that despite previous delays the first prototype would roll out by December 2023 and the first flight would happen by December 2024 with four prototypes expected to be completed by 2027 for testing purpose.
However, in December 2023 a revised schedule with a fresh four-year delay was announced due to waiting upon the government to provide development funding for the program and the government increasing the requirement for parts indigenization from 65% to 80%, these factors resulted in the first aircraft rollout now not being expected until late 2026 or early 2027 and the first test flight now not expected to occur until 2028.
Not sure, how this could be called NOT a delay regardless all reasons for it?
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