India needs more fighter jets. It cannot build them fast enough

India has a soaring ambition to modernise its air force, built around a fleet of domestically developed fighter jets. Yet production of these aircraft has been hampered by engine delays and other bottlenecks that defence analysts say could limit its ability to fight future air wars.

On October 11 at an airbase in Jodhpur, Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh strapped into a Tejas jet for the last time. It was his final fighter sortie before retiring later this month and he flew it in an Indian-built jet to show support for the country’s domestic defence industry.

A week earlier, he had warned that the Indian Air Force (IAF) faced a critical shortage of fighter squadrons. “We need to induct two fighter squadrons every year,” Singh said on October 3, noting that “between 36 and 40 aircraft” would need to be produced annually to meet India’s target of having 42 fighter squadrons in service.

“Actually, we need even more than that,” he said.