Well it is a success story in the sense that India has managed to stand up an aeronautical industry after having nearly wasted all its experience post the HF-24 Marut. Hiccups, yes, delays, yes, but not a failure as you’d like to project it.
Stand up an industry based on Tejas?
HAL have existed for over 70 years. You know, the age gap from say, Boeing, to HAL is about 25 years. In those 70 intervening years, HAL have not closed that 25 year maturity gap.
At the end, they’ve produced something that almost equates to the Mirage 2000… which has only been in service for over 30 years. [Which is even worse considering Dassault and Snecma both helped out in the earlier days.]
No, its not a failure in that they’ve got a fighter fit for some front-line use. It has also developed some foundations for the future and even some technologies to a reasonably high level. But nothing is cutting edge and most of the technology base is still 10+ years off current.
AND, HAL is not the agency that alone was responsible for the Tejas. If you don’t know much about who did what and when on the Tejas program, that really isn’t my issue.
In the real world, no single entity is responsible for any complex project. HAL are “just” the prime contractor.
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But, all that said and done; they’re moving in the right direction – and depending on whether involvement in PAK-FA or MRCA gives them more foundations, perhaps the first UCAV for India will be indigenous.
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