Indian Air Force receives HTT-40, completes Tejas FOC trainer acquisition

A Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Tejas Mk 1 FOC trainer produced for the Indian Air Force (IAF) at HAL airport in Bangalore on 18 September 2026, ahead of its transfer to the service. (Janes/Akhil Kadidal)

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has completed delivery of its final operational clearance (FOC)-standard two-seat Tejas Mk 1 trainers to the Indian Air Force (IAF), but cautioned that its follow-on Tejas Mk 1A aircraft programme remains delayed by technical issues.

The state-owned company transferred two Tejas Mk 1 FOC trainers and three Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40) turboprop trainers to the IAF in Bangalore on 18 September.

The delivery of the two FOC trainers, SPT7 and SPT8, comes nearly 16 years after the IAF ordered 16 single-seat Tejas Mk 1 fighters in the FOC configuration and four two-seat FOC trainers in 2010.

According to HAL, SPT7 and SPT8 incorporate improvements to their onboard autopilot and fuel systems, as well as a domestically developed software-defined radio (SDR), “enabling secure communications during operations”.

Janes understands from an industry source that HAL's Strategic Electronics Research and Development Centre (SLRDC) and the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) developed the SDR system. The source declined to provide further details because of security concerns.

According to the source, SPT7 and SPT8 have also been integrated with the Elta EL/M-2052 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and an air-to-air refuelling probe. Both systems will also equip the follow-on Tejas Mk 1A aircraft for the IAF.

“These features were integrated into SPT7 and SPT8 because the IAF wanted to use these last two FOC two-seaters as lead-in trainers for the Tejas Mk 1A,” the source said.