Why Japan Air Chief’s Tejas Praise Matters for India’s Fighter Programme
India’s LCA Tejas received an important vote of confidence during Exercise Veer Guardian 2026 at Jodhpur on September 20. General Takehiro Morita, Chief of Staff of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, flew in a Tejas twin-seat aircraft while Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh flew another Tejas in formation. This was part of the second bilateral fighter exercise between the two air forces and, importantly, the first deployment of Japanese fighter aircraft to Indian soil. Japan brought its F-2A fighters, while the Indian side fielded Tejas, Rafale and Su-30MKI aircraft.
What happened after the sortie is what makes the episode particularly important for India’s indigenous fighter programme. Morita described Tejas as a symbol of India’s technological innovation and said the aircraft embodied the Make in India initiative. He also spoke about reflecting on the efforts of the military personnel, engineers and industry teams who had contributed to developing the aircraft. These were remarks made after experiencing the fighter firsthand, not after simply viewing it on the ground at an air show.
Why the Source of the Praise Matters
Praise for an indigenous fighter aircraft naturally carries greater weight when it comes from the serving chief of a major foreign air force. Japan operates a technologically advanced combat fleet that includes the indigenous F-2, developed from the F-16 platform to Japanese requirements, alongside the F-35 and other advanced aircraft. The JASDF therefore has extensive experience operating sophisticated fighters, conducting complex exercises and working closely with some of the world’s most advanced air forces.
That background makes Morita’s experience of Tejas valuable for India. He was not being introduced to fighter aviation. He was examining an aircraft from the perspective of someone heading an air force that understands modern fighter operations, maintenance, training and technological integration. His comments therefore add professional credibility to a programme that India has spent decades building.
Tejas Has Moved Beyond the Experimental Stage
There was a time when every Tejas milestone was about proving that the aircraft could fly, complete weapons trials, achieve operational clearance or finally enter squadron service. That phase is now largely behind India. The original order covered 40 Tejas Mk1 aircraft, and HAL handed over the final two FOC twin-seat trainers to the IAF on September 18, just two days before Morita’s flight.
The aircraft Morita experienced therefore belongs to a mature operational family rather than a prototype programme. Tejas Mk1 has accumulated years of service with the IAF and has gone through weapons integration, air-to-air refuelling, operational exercises and deployment. During Operation Sindoor in 2025, defence sources cited in reporting said Tejas aircraft were operationally deployed and flew Combat Air Patrol and Close Air Support sorties, although detailed IAF mission records have not been publicly released.
That background makes the Japanese chief’s sortie more meaningful. He was experiencing the first operational generation of an aircraft that India has already taken through development, certification, squadron induction and real operational deployment.
The Bigger Achievement Is India’s Aerospace Journey
For decades, the backbone of Indian combat aviation came largely from aircraft designed abroad. MiGs, Jaguars, Mirage 2000s, Sukhois and eventually Rafales provided India with enormous capability, but they also reflected how dependent the country remained on foreign fighter designs. Tejas represents a fundamentally different journey.
The programme brought together the Aircraft Development Agency, DRDO, HAL, the IAF and an expanding network of Indian suppliers. India had to develop expertise across aerodynamics, composites, flight-control software, avionics, weapons integration, manufacturing and certification. The path was undeniably long, but the result is that India today has an indigenous fighter design in operational service with a much larger follow-on production programme already contracted.
That is why Morita’s comment about the people behind Tejas deserves attention. Building a fighter aircraft is not the achievement of one company or laboratory. It requires an entire aerospace ecosystem to mature together. His praise therefore reflects not simply on one airframe, but on the technological base India has spent years constructing around it.
Mk1A Makes This Recognition Particularly Timely
The Japanese air chief flew the Mk1 generation at precisely the moment when India is trying to transform Tejas from a relatively small indigenous fighter programme into a major component of the IAF.
The numbers show the scale of that transition. After the original 40 Mk1 aircraft, India signed the 2021 contract covering 73 Mk1A fighters and 10 trainers. In September 2025, the Defence Ministry signed another ₹62,370 crore contract for 97 Mk1A aircraft, including 68 fighters and 29 twin-seaters. Combined with the original 40-aircraft programme, India’s committed Tejas-family procurement has therefore reached roughly 220 aircraft.
The newer aircraft also take the programme technologically forward. The Mk1A brings AESA radar capability, improved electronic warfare and self-protection systems, beyond-visual-range weapons capability and improvements in maintainability. The second Mk1A contract will also introduce the indigenous Uttam AESA radar and other Indian systems while raising indigenous content above 64 per cent.
Morita therefore flew the foundation of the programme, while India is already preparing to field a considerably improved version of the same fighter family in much larger numbers.
International Exposure Matters for Defence Exports
Fighter aircraft are among the hardest defence products to export. Potential customers are not buying only an aircraft. They are committing themselves to decades of maintenance, upgrades, weapons support, training, spare parts and manufacturer support. Confidence in the country supplying the fighter therefore becomes almost as important as the specifications printed in the brochure.
This is where exercises such as Veer Guardian have value beyond diplomacy. Foreign pilots and commanders get to see Indian aircraft operating alongside their own platforms. They see the training standards, maintenance environment and professional ecosystem surrounding the aircraft. When a foreign air chief personally flies Tejas and publicly appreciates the technology behind it, that naturally adds to the aircraft’s international visibility and credibility.
No single sortie will secure an export order, nor does it need to. Defence exports are built through years of exposure, confidence and operational familiarity. Experiences like Morita’s contribute to that process while also showcasing the wider Indian aerospace industry behind Tejas.
India and Japan Are Now Learning From Each Other
There is another dimension to the sortie. Veer Guardian itself shows how quickly India-Japan air cooperation is developing. Morita noted that this was the first deployment of JASDF fighters to India and said the relationship had progressed beyond simply conducting exercises to refining tactical capabilities at a practical level.
For India, having Tejas participate alongside Rafale, Su-30MKI and Japan’s F-2A also places the indigenous fighter inside increasingly sophisticated international training environments. That gives Indian crews opportunities to learn while exposing foreign air forces to an aircraft they may previously have encountered mostly through demonstrations and specifications.
The Challenge Now Is Scaling the Success
The next phase of Tejas will be judged less by whether India can design a fighter and increasingly by whether India can manufacture, deliver and continuously improve one at scale. Mk1 has answered the first question. Mk1A now has to answer the second.
Engine availability, final systems integration and production schedules have already created delays in the Mk1A programme, even as HAL has built up a significant number of airframes. The government and HAL therefore have a clear task ahead: turn the growing order book into operational squadrons quickly, expand the domestic supplier base and carry the technological lessons of Tejas into Mk2 and future Indian combat-aircraft programmes.
General Morita’s Tejas sortie should be viewed within that larger journey. India spent years trying to get its indigenous fighter into the air, then years getting it into squadron service. Today, the head of one of Asia’s most technologically sophisticated air forces is flying that aircraft during a bilateral combat exercise and publicly recognising the technological achievement behind it.
That is a meaningful milestone for Tejas. More importantly, it is a sign that India’s indigenous fighter programme is increasingly being seen not simply as a national development project, but as a serious part of the international military aviation landscape.
