India’s indigenous Tejas fighter aircraft crashes at Dubai Air Show

Reuters/ AFP: An Indian fighter aircraft, the indigenously developed Tejas, crashed during a demonstration flight at the Dubai Air Show on Friday, a witness and officials told AFP.

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Tejas jet crashed at about 2:10pm local time.

Videos circulating on social media showed the aircraft going down at speed and bursting into a ball of flames on impact as onlookers watched in shock. A plume of smoke billowed from the crash site as emergency vehicles sped towards it.

The incident happened on the last day of the Middle East’s biggest airshow, which features a flying display each afternoon. Hundreds of people were watching from a grandstand, while the apron was packed with planes, helicopters and other hardware on static display.

In a post on X, the Indian Air Force (IAF) confirmed the death of the pilot in the incident.

“An IAF Tejas aircraft met with an accident during an aerial display at Dubai Air Show, today. The pilot sustained fatal injuries in the accident,” said the post.

“IAF deeply regrets the loss of life and stands firmly with the bereaved family in this time of grief. A court of inquiry is being constituted, to ascertain the cause of the accident,” it added.

Footage of the crash showed the fighter executing a low roll before crashing in flames about a mile (1.6 kilometres) from the show site.

The Tejas, meaning “brilliance” in Hindi, is a domestically designed and built fighter jet that was commissioned into the Indian Air Force in 2016. The Tejas has been beset by design and other challenges and was once rejected by the Indian Navy as too heavy.

The biennial airshow is being held at Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport from November 17-21.

The show, according to its website, brought together over 1,500 exhibitors, 200 aircraft across flying and static displays, 12 conference tracks, and 450 global visionaries.

This is the second known crash of the fighter jet, which is powered by General Electric (GE) engines. The first crash was during an exercise in India in 2024.

The Tejas Mk-1A fighters are crucial for India’s efforts to bolster its air force’s depleting fighter squadrons and replace ageing jets in the face of China’s growing military strength and support for arch-rival Pakistan.

The rollout of the fighter has been delayed due to slow deliveries from GE of 99 engines ordered in 2021, of which only four have arrived so far. GE has blamed supply chain issues following Covid-19.