Why did Tejas not win the RMAF tender? Here are four potential reasons. 

Malaysia wanted a supersonic fighter trainer with light combat capabilities to replace the Hawk 100 and 200. That is what South Korea provided, a proven fighter trainer with light combat capabilities with the FA50. India on the other hand marketed the Tejas as a small fighter aircraft which can combat against bigger fighters, with little mention about trainer capabilities. In the end South Korea wins because they provided what the Malaysian wanted. Its that simple. It has nothing to do with politics or business deals.

After 5 months of this report, the deal was finally sealed with Korea. To sum up; 1. RMAF and GoM sent RFP and ROI to KAI and Korean gov. They sent it to just Korea. China, India, Russia approached them unsolicited later. 2. Lots of political manoeuvring by Malaysian gov delayed the process. Tejas Mk1 was completed in its development and FA50 started work on Block 20. This further complicated the process as the project became confusing to say the least. 3. Koreans emphasised about new BVR capability offered by new US made ASEA radar and AIM120. There are proposals for larger conformal tanks, and EW suite. Good thing was, the production line is extremely active with new orders from Thailand (additional order), Philippines (additional order), Indonesia (additional order), Iraq (additional order) and Poland (new order), hence the batch price is likely to be the lowest in near future. Also repeated purchases by operating nations helped to boost the confidence. 4. Indian airforce openly refused to purchase or use Tejas Mk1. The plane was developed to replace now retired Mig21 (1800 operational). Yet the purchased by the Indian gov was 86 only. It was either Tejas Mk1 was 20 times better in operational coverage than Mig 21 or it failed to live up to expectations. Furthermore, there were media reports that Tejas Mk1 parts were not interchangeable with other planes. ie, the parts were hand crafted to each plane!!!! This scared RMAF a lot. This is an evidence of lack of precision engineering expected from a military airplane. The Indian offer of Su MRO center was also not terribly appealing given Russian sanctions and quality issues with India made parts. 5. Weapons advantage. The only advantage Tejas Mk1 had was possible integration of Bhramos missile. Yet Korea successfully tested and announced integration of its own super sonic anti ship missiles to FA50. Also integration of AIM120 for FA50 PL (or Block 20) with US ASEA radar given FA50 that much more credibility. 6. Geopolitics. If Malaysia is to go to a war, it is likely to be with China given the territorial water dispute with China and ASEAN. In ASEAN, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand is using FA50 and its variants. This interoperability is a crucial point for the conflict created by China. Tajas is not interoperable with any other ASEAN airforce. Surprisingly, many nations examined Tejas (Malaysia, Egypt, Argentina etc) and they all rejected Tejas. Especially, Argentina had no alternatives yet rejected Tejas. It means something.

No foreign air force will buy Tejas fighter unless Indian air force buys and operates it in quantity. Indian air force should buy at least 200 Tejas to replace its aging Mig-21 fleet and Jaguar, and Mirage 2000's. Number is important for long term support prospect of Tejas.

Malaysia paid some portion with palm oil , final assembly in Msia ( technology transfer ). TUDM pilot familiar with US base F18. Spare part & expertise from Korea..which is very good idea in term of maintenanance point of view. price is not extremely high consider Msia get FA50, the most advance version, with sniper advance targeting pod by lockead martin, GBU-38JDAM, AGM 65 Maverick, AAR probe. On top of that, possible external fuel tank and use of AIM120 is underway.... By the way, it's AESA radar...

India needs to build history then the confidence will come. Build them and let it prove out in the field.

FA-50 has great potential. (1) Operation cost is very low. Several thousand dollars per hour. (2) Availability is very high. For KAF, it is almost 90%, which means at any moment within about 22 hours per day on average you can fly it. That for F-35A with the USAF is under 70%. (3) Compatibility is very powerful. An experienced FA-50 pilot can fly a F-16 after 10 or 20 hours training. And more than 60% of parts are common with F-16. Still KAF has been lukewarm with regard to upgrading it. (AESA radar and medium range air-to-air missile and so on), since they want to procure more F-35A's and KF-21's (which is under development). However, Poland pushed Korea and Lockheed to upgrade. AESA radar, AIM-120 missile, in-flight refueling, ... With this upgrade, FA-50 has become a 'smaller' F-16. It is only natural that Malaysia chose it. --

Nobody use tejas. Everybody use fa50.

Congrats Malaysia..❤️😊❤️🇲🇾

only reason is our own airforce doesn't have sufficient fleet of tejas and we don't have history behind it, we need to build reputation first by inducting tejas in large numbers in our own fleet ,

Tejas is made under Indian management, means Talent is overruled by monopoly and politics.

I'm Korean, but I think Tejas is a very attractive model too. I think Indian defense companies are very underrated

The Indian jet that failed for decades that is barely 4th gen and in which Indian airforce already said it’s not suitable even for them to use 😂. Why would malaysia even choose it LOL.

As an Indian, I will. Say Congrats Korea But I still love Tejas (तेज्स)

FA-50 is combat proven in air to ground operations.

From what I red, the FA50 is basically a better plane simply because it has good integration with components, can already be integrated with existing systems (since Malaysia also operates some F/A 18s) and will be able to share parts with potential allies. (Malaysia has a mutual defense agreement with Singapore in the even an invasion happens like it did in 1941 and since other ASEAN partners also operate the FA50 it would make sense if they were to challenge China since bases would have preexisting infrastructure and parts).

FA 50 is basically a lite version of the F-16 that's why.

Thailand, Indonesia and others buyer is using T 50 Golden Eagle...RMAF is purchasing the new varian and the latest version FA 50 block 20...

Malaysian is not known to buy unproven platform unless 1) one sided barter trade deals 2) technology transfer Tejas has to push the two agenda very hard for them to take it. The french have been good at it with loads of scandals involve with the gov of Malaysia. Malaysia has made continuous lapse in judgement in procurement or self local assembly failures, stuff like the 6 gowind ships, Failed reframe MB-339 without engine replacement, Failed batch 2 orders of 12 remaining EC725 helicopters etc. Mounting issues like these have made the Generals involving the Navy and air force to be very vocal against the gov of Malaysia on its asset renewal and procurement process. Malaysia has wasted a lot of funds trying to build or order unreliable stuffs in the name of technology transfer and barter trade. This results in Malaysia's deteriorating defense policy that has been creeping in since 2010. As of 2022 it has 40 medium lift helicopters down to 12, 44 multi role fighters down to 26, 40% of the Navy's missiles expiring since 2016 and 6 so called self assembled literal combat ships nowhere in sight. KAI-50 has been proven in quite a few countries. Also interlink capability with the Hornets. KAI's Direct delivery will at least bring less issues that has plague Malaysia before.

It is also because of the engine spare part, fa 50 using the same engine part as the fa 18 Hornet which the rmaf is using/having currently.

Nothing to do with religion. Reliability is the answer. It uses a single GE F404. It is basically an American jet with proven GE F404 American engine and American avionics. It is called the little F18 Hornet. At usd51.2 million a piece, it is a good deal. And Malaysia operates F18D hornet which use the same GE F404 engine. Maintainance team no issue.

Malaysia and Indonesia might be fighting a common foe in the future. They need to be able to host, repair, and service each others warplanes in time of war if their local airbases are temporily taken out by runway cratering munitions or cruise missiles. Since Indonesia already flies FA50, it makes sense for RMAF to buy them.

Seriously speaking Tejas looks more like Superman in flight than a jet fighter

Malaysia was saved from a huge loss, congratulations Malaysia for taking a timely decision.

Why? Because Malaysia needed a trainer with a capability to fight. Tejas is marketed as a fighter design. That's all it is. Also with South East Asia already using FA-50s and its variants (Indo, Thailand, Philippines), there will be a guaranteed support platform in the region. KAI ain't no fool and will definitely pivot on that. As buying jets is not just about combat prowess (which I am pretty sure any of the combat fighters in the bid would have blown the F-50 away) but also the use and logistics and future support. Also using an F-50 is tacit support that the region is pivoting towards Western influence (not directly since this is a Korean product with USA support). As this allows future purchase of American birds in future if there an option.

Malaysia didn't want delta design aircraft to teach newbies fighter pilot because delta wing aircraft difficult to take basic manuver

Philippines prove tha FA50 can work as attack and bomber, the experience in Marawi war is valuable

It seems the agreement between Poland and KAI may have influenced the decision in Malaysia.

as a malaysian i prefer to work with korean rather than indian. not offence but we have experience

Malaysia requires both FLIT & LCA roles as currently done by BAE Hawk 108/208. T-50 is suitable for FLIT roles as it has been used in Korea, Indonesia, Iraq and Thailand. For LCA roles ...FA-50 currently it is in use in Korea and Philippines (Soon Poland). FLIT functions is more required before pilots were move to use other aircraft like F/A-18 Hornet or SU-30MKM or any Aircraft they will buy for MRCA later. LCA may supplement the function of MRCA in the future like what Korean are using together with F-16, F-15 and KF-21 (future). Same with India Tejas ... to supplement Rafale and SU-30MKI. These aircraft is not air superiority or MRCA that compete with current or future generation fighter aircraft but shall be good enough against small or older/current generation of enemy target or aircraft ... including intercepting and patrolling roles unlike MRCA. Personally ... the failure for Tejas is due to it is marketed as frontline fighter aircraft instead of LCA or FLIT. Whereas FA-50 & T-50 are both marketed as Base Fighter Trainer and Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). Most competition (win or loss) for T-50 is for FLIT roles (Singapore, US, Airforce, US Navy, Iraq, Egypt, Israel, Thailand, Indonesia etc.) in addition for LCA roles which fit Malaysian requirements, unlike Tejas which have doubtful FLIT track record (not being Indian FLIT or planned to be a FLIT) but more as a fighter aircraft, to compete with JF-17 only but not other Pakistanis or Chinese Fighter Je or simple Ground Attack like what Philippines has done. It was the same reason why Malaysia have Hawk 108/208 before.

Tejas has not proven herself yet. How many countries have bougth this jet compared to the Korean jet?

Tejas should be first given to IAF(Indian Air Force) and then only it should be given to other friendly countries.

FA 50 looks better

With no disrespect mean, one will not prefer to buy an indian made car, let alone an aeroplane. Korea technology & quality is undoubtedly superior.

The number of fa-50 fighter jets operating is more than 200.But how many Tejas are there?

The Tejas is completely alien to this region. In fact, it is alien to everyone except India.

To be fair Tejas is still in early mark 1 while FA-50 now in Block 20 stage & the malaysian government love offsets. The final assembly line in Malaysia. If India can offer something better like transfer of technology on radar building i think it will chosen

HAL has to ponder over the problem deeply about marketing strategy for the future.

In the Southeast Asian region, India should approach Indonesia for a tester in that region, because in some countries it prohibits the purchase of fighter aircraft that have not been battle proven and have not been purchased, Korea has succeeded in selling its aircraft in Southeast Asia because Indonesia bought it first and followed by other countries in the region, and now Korea is collaborating with Indonesia in kf21 development

Malaysia made a good choice The fa50 perfectly matches their criteria ..

Iaf must first purchase Tejas in bulk to give others the confidence in the aircraft

What!!! I thought India's news agencies were talking as though it's a done deal. Overconfidence kills!!!

The India government itself is putting off Tejas in favour of futher development. I don't know what you want the Malaysians to do other than slipping some money under the table.

This is good news, we ourselves need more tejas squadrons..only thing need improvement is more air coverage, jaihind

It maybe tejas delta wing design is number one reason..not suitable for LCA..

Every country expects early delivery. HAL delays delivery so much even for IAF

Its not even first choice of indian airforce.. how its possible someone else will buy or prefer it

Good info

Because our government sector works with the Soviet government mindset. "Do not accept the fault and pretend everything is going on as per design untill the next man-made disaster arrives!" Also, another thing is that everybody blames hal for Tejas's delays, but you've to consider the fact that Tejas isn't the only product that hal manufactures. Whereas the sole purpose of Ada was to develop an indigenous fighter for India, and they've failed miserably to do so while being successful to slide the responsibility of failure onto hal!!

Malaysia already operates the F18 Hornet platform so buying the KA50 makes sense rather than the Tejas which will not be able to share anything between the F18s already in service and the KA50 is cheaper to operate.

India should test Tejas in combat condition. It has zero combat experience and nobody knows HAL manufacturing speed and quality, spare part quality and abailability etc. Malaysians are familiar with Korean quality, customer service etc. Marketing cannot beat reality. 200 FA-50 sold. How many Tejas sold? Perhaps India should lease a few Tejas to a country in conflict and have it "blooded". Pride and patriotism alone doesn't help to sell a fighter jet.

Because Malaysia chose quality

Every country want fa50.

Wow from all the initial chest-thumping and war cries, one would have thought the Tejas would win the bidding war. Honestly thought from reading the reports, the Tejas has better air superiority and manouvrability.

RMAF needs FLIT LCA training and light fighter not MRCA jet.

HAL cant produce the numbers required . hence no customer is going to wait forever for a fighter aircraft that is as yet unknown in most parts of the world .

False news. As of now RMAF hasn't decided which aircraft to purchase and are still comparing the 2 finalists. Their decision should be announced in the coming 3-4 weeks.

It's wrong about Tejas is cheaper than TA-50 when it comes to program cost, no one buys fighters just price tag of the fighter itself, they all buy through program & package deals with optional spare parts. If program cost is added, Tejas is much more expensive than TA-50 and also Tejas production is slower than TA-50 production. FA-50 is just TA-50 with multi-role fighter avionics and sensors i.e. advanced radar & electronics. And it's far easier to convert TA-50 to trainer or fighter with flick of the switch with optional parts. Also, due to connection with Lockheed and Raytheon, TA-50 can be equip with their ASEA system and their armaments.

Tejas was made by taking inspiration from Mirage 2000 - it has less Drag but has minimum maneuver capacity - it is good no doubt but during large Turning it looses its maximum energy (momentum) - it is in-born defect of Tejas for is shape and due to absence of front Canard

HAL would far more efficient and productive if it was in private sector. Public sector has its inherent lethargy with poor motivation to perform..

Some of the reasons are: Low production rate, Tejas offers UTTAM radar which is still in development, HAL does not have a renowned reputation unlike KAI and Lockheed Martin, countries do not trust Indian arms after Dhruv helicopter incident and Tejas's delta wing design

name a COMPETITIVE made in India product ?

As far as I observed ASEAN Air Forces except Thailand are less attracted to operate a delta wing jetfighters. Even each competing aircraft has the same avionics and sensors. The standard aircraft design is the most preferred.. The US swift delta wing F-14 never gain popularity among the world Air Forces compared to F-15, F-16 and F-18 respectively.

Im hearing crying Indian keyboard warrior, because of this news😹😹😹😹

This prove Indian Technology lacking behind.

It takes 10 years to supply tejas aircrafts to Indian air force

FA50 is a more mature platform overall

Well fa50 is battle proven

We will learn and come back strongly. Once india transport parts rocket in cycle cow pulled car. Now reached to the Mars, moon

WoW lot of Aviation experts in comment section!!

While Malaysia busy to get FA50.. Indonesia will get 24 unit of Eagles.

India shud use Tejas in balakot lik strike on pak, automatically everyone will want tejas. no need of any marketing.

India should privatize HAL fully, socialism is ruining India's defense infrastructure, Clueless bureaucrats are taking the call, which is resulting in sub par product with so much delay, Private companies gonna hire experts and gonna stick to the timelines to avoid losses.

You see both use usa engine.... Than better buy then original... If India with to sell tejas... It's need to redesign the main frame.... It's still look old

Reliable on how much or easy to get the spare parts is maybe the big factor.. People always want to buy things that are easy to use and had a easy to get parts.. Coz after this the little plane are going to hard mods everybody.. Use the state of art modified skills to maximize on behalf its own..kai fa 50 M maybe... Can't wait to modify it and it just a' normal' fighter plane as we get it.. Nothing special about extra modify.. 😬😬😬

Malaysian Defense Minister Mohd Hasan told parliament that the FA-50 decision was based on the platform's 'service record' So, it is clear that the reason for Malaysia's choice of FA 50 over Tejas was not Tejas' lack of individual capability but HAL's poor service record, US diplomacy, lack of marketing etc.

Indians couldn't fool Malaysians to buy mk1a which is still in development. And couldn't fool Malaysians that they can do MRO for Su when IAF fleet itself is in shambles and the Su is Russian! Malaysians also didn't appreciate Indians making so much noise in the media and social platform about the evaluation.

How did the HAL go to bidding ? Many of the critical components,including engine , are American . Periodic supplies and maintainance etc ?

If tejas mk1 has Canard it will be more attractive,looks like something is missing

Tejas junk

you have to understand , no one will buy tejas due to its mirage like wings. which is 30 years old design. why wont they buy mirage 2000 proven .. On the other hand , indian navy itself rejected this aircraft

Both r good ? FA50 doesn't meet Malaysian air force because it's a trainer & doesn't have BVR, AESA, Refueling Pods, other weapon packages none of them is offered by FA50

May be tejas need more operational proof...

Win tender fa50 ..no tejas

Didn't surprise me as %60 of all Tejas planes in İndia are grounded due to production quality, fatal flaws on the fuselage and insufficient engine power due to the engine management systems developed by indian DRDO. Final conclusion : İndia was blaming Chinese military equipment for quality issues but faces worst quality flaws on it's own platforms and still fails to export anything

Official announcement has yet to be made .

We don't want to drink coffee/tea

I think religion has a part in Malaysian decision, it may sound silly but that is my opinion

Upgrade tejas and invest more money into it and employ more talented India engineers and scientists and make a environment for development and r&d for Navy aircraft and army equipment

Indian jet was fail in dubai air show 2023 it was softwear issue

Change the wings designed..

The main reason is even indian airforce is not using tejas.

India does not have the industrial clout of south korea. South korea build huge lng vessels, electronics, weapons and still in a state of war. Its a branding issue. Would you buy a indian made car or one from south korea,

well on paper tejas is much better aircraft... if we compare the RCS, Takeoff weight, Service cieling, thrust , avionics and gs... its Malaysias fault that they havent chose tejas.. I think mostly because of Israeli component.. as they dont recognise Israel as a country.

It's all about feedbacks🤑🤑🤑

Main reason bribe. Malaysia must now buy spares from Russia and maintenance of their SU 30 in Russia. Great decision.

here is the answer....cos the Tejas is sh1t. 40 years old designed, powered by off the shelf parts. It is essentially a kit plane. Until it is proven in combat, sales will be hard to come by.

Go RMAF go.. Aamiin.

To be honest tejas was rejected for it’s low production rate ! 😢

Ngl..Tejas was a one hell of a ugly plane🤣🤣

Simple one is combat proven while the other is newly built DCS proven! Like others say, if its so good why don't IAF replace it with Mig-29 .