Hence, the general perception among the high command of Indian Air Force is that, with 60 percent of Tejas fighter jets being grounded at HAL development and repair facilities, in addition to having a negative impact on any potential export prospects, which are negligible to begin with, repeated system failures, design flaws, bureaucratic delays and chronic corruption in the Indian defence production chain, the politically influenced IAF procurement of 83 Tejas fighters from HAL in a $6.25 billion deal and the expected delays in delivery extending all the way to the 2030s in the best case scenario, would prove to be a huge disaster in terms of the operational preparedness of the Indian Air Force, that would continue to fall short of IAF's desired 42 operational squadrons requirement for decades to come. —Researched and written by Malik Khurram Khan.