Costs of composites affect Indian defence production
A total of 2,240kg of composites goes into the Tejas fighter, but the price of these materials has risen steeply. (Photo: Gordon Arthur)
As the price of raw materials such as carbon composites skyrockets, this is causing Indian vendors financial difficulties.
Production delays in indigenous defence equipment that uses composites are expected to continue, as India struggles with challenges associated with rising import bills and disruption to supply chains of specialised military materials during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk1A, which uses carbon composites in 45% of its airframe, is the first victim. The first batch is to be delivered by February 2024.
Some of the 463 vendors in the LCA programme – supplying carbon wing skins, forward fuselage, flaperons, rudder, keel beam, front fairing, upper fuselage shells, crown and side panels – are already struggling with ‘raw material
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