New Delhi: India’s ambitious drive to achieve self-reliance in strategic defence technologies has encountered a significant hurdle, as a Parliamentary panel has sharply criticised delays in the development of the HTFE-25 gas turbine engine project by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
The Committee on Public Undertakings (CPU) — in its Twenty-Sixth Report to Parliament — has pointed to prolonged roadblocks in securing test-bed facility approvals, procurement delays, and bureaucratic land clearance issues as the core factors stalling the programme.
Background of HTFE-25 Gas Turbine Project Delays
The HTFE-25 project sits at the heart of India’s effort to indigenously design and manufacture aero-engines for defence platforms — a domain where the country has historically been dependent on foreign suppliers.
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Initiated with a sanctioned budget of ₹441.41 crore, the programme involves the development of two engines:
- A 25 kN thrust gas turbine engine intended for Intermediate Jet Trainer-class aircraft.
- A turboshaft engine designed for use in military helicopters.
Such propulsion systems are central to modern air platforms, and mastering them is seen as a critical step towards reducing import dependence and boosting India’s defence industrial base under the Atmanirbhar Bharat policy.
Parliamentary Panel Review: Major Causes of HTFE-25 Gas Turbine Project Delays
The Committee on Public Undertakings, chaired by Baijayant Panda and comprising senior MPs from both Houses of Parliament, expressed serious concern at the pace of progress on the HTFE-25 project.
According to the CPU:
- Stage II of the project has remained incomplete since 2018 — a delay spanning more than seven years.
- The absence of a functional test-bed facility — crucial to engine certification and performance evaluation — has become a central bottleneck.
- Procurement hurdles have prevented timely acquisition of critical components.
- Land clearance delays, exacerbated by bureaucratic inefficiencies, have added more than three years to the timeline.
- The CPU noted that these cumulative delays have forced HAL to write off ₹159.23 crore in unrecoverable costs, reflecting the economic impact of the stalled programme.
Test-Bed Facility: A Core Infrastructure Gap
A major thrust of the panel’s criticism focuses on the long-pending approvals for constructing a dedicated engine test-bed facility — an indispensable asset for ground testing, validation of engine performance, and certification before integrating engines on aircraft.
According to the panel, current efforts such as gap analyses of existing facilities are insufficient solutions without a definitive roadmap, funding allocations, and timelines to operationalise the infrastructure.
The panel has urged the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to expedite approvals and provide a clear action plan.
Ministry of Defence and HAL Response
In response to the committee, officials from the MoD acknowledged the technical complexity of the project and highlighted that:
- HAL proactively ventured into R&D for the engines to foster indigenous capability.
- Many of the critical components are being designed and developed domestically for the first time, contributing to redesign delays.
- Material research work is being undertaken by DRDO’s Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI), with HAL placing orders worth ₹757.82 crore on MIDHANI.
- HAL also collaborates with global engine makers, including through its joint venture SAFHAL with Safran Helicopter Engines, though these partnerships have not been sufficient to overcome the core test-bed and certification hang-ups.
Procurement and Land Issues
The CPU emphasised that procurement bottlenecks — particularly failure to secure essential components on time — remain a persistent challenge.
Delays in land acquisition and clearance for testing infrastructure have worsened the timeline, pointing to systemic inefficiencies in administrative processes.
Many defence analysts argue that such delays reflect broader structural issues within India’s defence R&D and production ecosystem, where extensive coordination among multiple agencies, regulatory clearances, and infrastructure development often extend project timelines beyond projections.
