Indian Tejas fighter jet crashed in the middle of a high-intensity flying display at the Dubai Airshow on Friday. The dramatic incident unfolded at around 2:10 p.m. local time.
India’s homegrown light combat aircraft manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd was performing a demonstration flight when the routine suddenly turned into chaos. The Associated Press reported that it remains unknown whether the pilot managed to eject before the jet plunged toward the ground.
After years of delays, the first two Tejas fighter jets were finally handed over to the IAF in 2016.
India designates the single-engine jet as a multi-role light combat aircraft, featuring a delta-wing design.
HAL has reportedly equipped the modern variants with advanced avionics, an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, and enhanced electronic warfare systems.
According to Indian media outlets, the fighter jet can carry I-Derby extended-range (ER) and Astra beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missiles.
Tejas is reportedly also capable of firing short-range missiles such as the R-73, Python-5, and ASRAAM.
Families, aviation enthusiasts, and children watched in horror as a towering column of black smoke erupted over Al Maktoum International Airport. According to one eyewitness, the aircraft had just executed a low roll — a bold manoeuvre meant to showcase its agility — before losing control and crashing in a fiery explosion roughly 1.6 kilometres (one mile) from the main airshow grounds.
The crash cast a dramatic shadow over the biennial Dubai Airshow, one of the world’s biggest aviation events, held from November 17–21. This year’s edition features more than 1,500 global exhibitors, 200 aircraft on static and aerial display, 12 conference tracks, and hundreds of aviation leaders and innovators — making the mid-show disaster even more jarring.
Emergency crews rushed to the scene as shocked onlookers tried to process the moment the sleek, high-performance fighter jet fell from the sky in front of them. The condition of the pilot remains unconfirmed.
