French Dassault Aviation and Tata Advanced Systems of India have agreed to produce the fuselage of Rafale indigenously in India. Tata Advanced Systems will establish a state-of-the-art facility in Hyderabad to manufacture major structural components of the Rafale fighter jet, including the rear fuselage, central and front sections. This marks the first time Rafale fuselages will be produced outside France. The plant is expected to begin production in FY2028, with a capacity of delivering up to two complete fuselages per month. Dassault Aviation sees this as a move to bolster its supply chain in India, while TASL’s role is to support the ramp-up of Rafale production while maintaining the required standards of quality and global competitiveness.
More than enough is there to show that this is a giant leap for India’s ‘Make in India’ and AtmaNirbhar initiatives. If the timeline is followed, this moment will play a big role in positioning India as a key player in the global aerospace supply chain. While it is a huge step forward there is a colossal lot more that needs to be done when it comes to India’s local manufacturing.
India’s decision to manufacture fighter jets within its borders, even when the designs are foreign, is not simply about industrial capability or national pride. It is a strategic move with deep implications for national security, technological growth, economic development, and global positioning. Here’s an in-depth exploration of why this domestic production matters now more than ever.
Strategic Autonomy and National Security
Domestic production of fighter aircraft markedly improves India’s strategic autonomy. The ability to manufacture jets locally reduces dependency on foreign governments and companies for critical defence equipment, especially during times of diplomatic friction or conflict.
For instance, the 1999 Kargil War highlighted how sanctions or export restrictions by foreign powers could jeopardise India’s military readiness. By building aircraft locally, India ensures it can maintain, deploy, and adapt platforms as per its own strategic needs without external approval or supply chain delays.
Indigenous production allows for mission-specific customisation and greater control over integration with domestic defence systems like radars, missiles, and electronic warfare suites.
Maintenance, Spares, and Operational Readiness
Fighter jets, like all combat platforms, require extensive maintenance over their lifecycle. Spare parts, overhaul capacity, and component replacement drive both cost and aircraft availability. When platforms are produced abroad, procuring spares often involves lengthy import procedures, diplomatic clearances, and currency fluctuations. For example, India in its Tejas export deals usually offers MRO services as well.
Domestic manufacturing allows for faster turnaround times, on-demand spares, and routine overhauls without reliance on foreign vendors. This increases operational readiness and reduces aircraft downtime. HAL’s work on the Tejas and Su-30MKI fleets, for example, has already shown how local MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) capability improves fleet availability.
Technology Transfer and Capability Development
Local production under licensed arrangements often includes provisions for technology transfer. This is critical for developing a domestic industrial base capable of advanced aerospace manufacturing. Every rivet, composite panel, and software system mastered locally contributes to the growth of Indian aerospace knowledge.
The Tejas LCA programme, despite delays, has become a cornerstone of India’s learning curve in aircraft design. The experience gained in building the Tejas is directly feeding into next-generation projects like the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) and the Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) for the Navy.
Economic Impact and Job Creation
According to the Ministry of Defence, India’s defence production reached an all-time high of INR 1.27 lakh crore in FY24, a 174% increase from FY15 levels. This boom is not limited to state-run enterprises like HAL and BEL but includes a growing number of private players and MSMEs across the supply chain.
Fighter jet production generates thousands of high-skilled jobs in engineering, design, materials, avionics, testing, and more. It also creates spin-off demand in tooling, electronics, logistics, and IT. Defence offsets and localisation clauses in import deals have already created a more resilient aerospace ecosystem in India.
Lifecycle Cost Savings
Fighter jets have service lives exceeding 30 years. Over this period, the majority of expenditure is not on procurement but on sustainment. Local production drastically reduces the logistics cost of importing parts and services for decades.
This is especially crucial for India, where budget constraints often delay maintenance contracts. Having in-country assembly and servicing capability reduces these risks and ensures that aircraft remain combat-ready at lower total ownership costs.
Diplomatic Leverage and Strategic Independence
India’s defence imports come with usage restrictions, limits on resale, and diplomatic dependencies. For example, U.S.-origin platforms are governed by the End User Monitoring Agreement (EUMA), which grants Washington some oversight. France, Russia, and other suppliers, too, may impose formal or informal conditions.
India’s defence strategy involves projecting stability and reliability among friendly nations, particularly in the Global South. As a democratic counterbalance to China’s authoritarian model, India seeks to offer military assistance and strategic alternatives to countries wary of falling into Beijing’s debt or security trap.
Indigenous fighter production plays directly into this. The Tejas LCA, a lightweight, versatile, and cost-effective platform, is already being pitched to countries like Argentina, Egypt, the Philippines, and Nigeria. Unlike Chinese exports (e.g., the JF-17 co-developed with Pakistan), Indian offerings come without the strings of political alignment or intrusive conditions. This helps New Delhi build influence through defence diplomacy, enabling joint training, interoperability, and long-term strategic partnerships.
India’s capacity to offer fighters, trainers, and spares as part of comprehensive defence packages also enhances its image as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). This goal aligns with India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) doctrine. For smaller nations caught between Chinese and Western options, Indian equipment offers a neutral, reliable, and regionally anchored choice.
Exporting jets allows India to place pressure on Pakistan’s own export ambitions. Pakistan has tried to market the JF-17, but persistent concerns over quality, Chinese dependency, and limited upgrade pathways have made potential customers cautious. If India successfully expands its export footprint with Tejas Mk1A or even naval variants, it could undercut Pakistan’s military-industrial narrative. This move would isolate Pakistan further in defence trade circles.
In the broader Indo-Pacific context, this also aligns with India’s role in forums like the Quad. On such platforms, defence interoperability and self-reliance are seen as vital counters to Chinese assertiveness. By producing and possibly co-developing jets with Southeast Asian nations, India can create coalitions of capability. It’s an unspoken but powerful deterrent to hegemonic behaviour.
Geopolitical Considerations
China’s vast and integrated military-industrial complex is a major instrument of its geopolitical power. With state-backed conglomerates like AVIC and NORINCO, Beijing produces everything from fifth-generation stealth fighters (like the J-20) to hypersonic missiles, naval assets, and AI-powered drone swarms. China not only builds these platforms at scale but also refines them rapidly, enabling a dynamic force structure that outpaces most regional militaries.
For India, the growing asymmetry with China is a strategic concern. The two countries share a contested border along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and recent stand-offs, particularly the 2020 Galwan Valley clash, have underlined how conventional deterrence needs to be credible, not symbolic. Indigenous fighter jet production enables India to maintain a sustained, scalable, and adaptable air power posture along this frontier.
But the threat isn’t just along the Himalayas. China’s naval forays into the Indian Ocean. China has made bases in Djibouti, Gwadar (Pakistan), and holds considerable influence in Sri Lanka. This is obviously a larger strategy of encirclement, often described as the “String of Pearls.” In such a scenario, self-reliant production of fighter aircraft allows India to quickly deploy tailored assets from carriers or island bases without relying on delayed imports or foreign permissions.
A local production base also ensures that India is not outpaced in a prolonged conflict. China’s wartime production capabilities are formidable. It can replace lost equipment faster than most countries can procure it. India must therefore pre-build and pre-position assets, a strategy only viable if it controls the supply chain domestically.
In a potential two-front or even three-front war scenario, involving China in the north and northeast, Pakistan in the west, and Bangladesh’s recent threat in the northeast, local fighter production offers the ability to scale air operations across sectors without fear of foreign embargoes, component shortages, or maintenance gaps. India can adapt aircraft roles, rotate fleets rapidly, and maintain combat tempo only when production and logistics pipelines are sovereign.
Paving the Way for Indigenous Future Programmes
Manufacturing jets locally lays the foundation for true indigenous design in the long run. The experience in building Su-30MKIs under license from Russia helped Indian engineers and vendors prepare for the Tejas LCA. Similarly, the Tejas programme is grooming talent and infrastructure for the AMCA.
Programmes like the TEDBF will draw heavily on naval experience gained from operating the MiG-29K and adapting Tejas prototypes for carrier use. These incremental steps are essential for eventually achieving full-spectrum design-to-production capability.
Rafale Production with Tata-Dassault as a Case Study
This recent milestone of the Tata-Dassault joint venture, manufacturing complete Rafale fighter fuselages in Hyderabad, could become a great case study for such cases in India in the future. This marks one of the few times globally that a critical combat aircraft assembly line has been set up outside the country of origin. It signifies India’s emergence as a serious player in aerospace manufacturing and is expected to have significant export potential as well.
In a Nutshell…
India’s insistence on building fighter jets domestically is a multi-layered strategy. It’s about reducing vulnerability, enhancing preparedness, upskilling its workforce, boosting GDP, and nurturing a sovereign defence industrial base.
Even when working with foreign designs, every bolt made and fitted in India brings the country closer to true autonomy in aerospace and defence. This is more than a matter of pride, but of preparedness, power projection, and long-term national security.
