India’s Big defence Push: HAL to hand over Tejas Trainers, HTT-40s to Indian Air Force

Sep 18, 2026

Bengaluru (Karnataka): September 18, 2026: ANI: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will hand over Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Final Operational Clearance (FOC) Twin Seater Trainers & HTT 40 Basic Trainer Aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Dhruv Next Generation (NG) helicopters to Pawan Hans Limited (PHL) in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu in Bengaluru, Karnataka, on Friday. According to a release from the Ministry of Defence, the handover marks an important milestone in the country’s self-reliance journey, as the event would highlight the role being played by HAL and its industry partners in strengthening the domestic aerospace ecosystem. It would also demonstrate the industry’s expanding capability to design, develop, and manufacture advanced platforms for both civil & military applications. Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh; Secretary (Defence Production) Sanjeev Kumar; Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation Samir Kumar Sinha; CMD, HAL Ravi K, and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Civil Aviation, IAF, PHL, regulatory agencies and stakeholders from the aerospace & defence sectors will be present on the occasion.