New Delhi: After a wait of over a decade, India and the US have signed a major agreement to facilitate the partnership of state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) with American firm General Electric (GE) to jointly manufacture indigenous jet engines for fighter jets. Defense deals are on the verge of signing. airplane.
While initially the partnership will be for aviation engines, it will eventually power those Indian military ships, ThePrint has learnt.
The sources described the proposed deal, which could be announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US next month, as one of the most definite defense collaborations between the two countries.
Working out the broad contours of the deal will be one of the key focus areas for US Defense Secretary Lloyd James Austin during his visit to New Delhi next week.
As Reported by ThePrintTransfer of Technology (TOT) for jet engines was the main thrust of National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval’s talks with his US counterpart Jack Sullivan in February, when they also moderated the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (ICET) Did.
US President Joe Biden and PM Modi had announced ICET in May 2022 to enhance and expand the bilateral strategic technology partnership and defense industrial cooperation between governments, businesses and academic institutions of the two countries.
The US is keen to sign the deal as it takes bilateral ties to a new height, and will help it beat European competition from French engine maker Safran and European competition. British firm Rolls-Royce to the finish line.
Giving details of the proposed defense deal, sources in the defense establishment said the plan is to manufacture the GE F414 engine, which was chosen by India in 2010 to power the Mark II version of the indigenous light combat aircraft Tejas, currently manufactured by GE. Comes with. F404 Engine.
Once production begins in India, the GE F414 will power all future fighter jets including the Tejas Mk II, Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) as well as the indigenous Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) for the Indian Navy. will provide.
The F414 is an afterburning turbofan engine in the 22,000 lb (98 KN) thrust class of engines. Boeing Super Hornets and Gripen fighter jets are among the aircraft that run on this engine.
While the AMCA is likely to be a newer version of the higher thrust class of those fitted, the 100 per cent transfer of technology (ToT) in India has the potential to pave the way for future joint design, development and manufacturing of more. powerful engine.
Sources said as per the program plan, the process would involve making parts for the engines in the first phase, after which it would actually move to the full phase, which would take at least a decade.
The work on the F414 will be done by HAL’s engine division based in Bengaluru.
When the engines were shortlisted in 2010, John Flannery, then chairman and CEO of GE India, said that GE Aviation would supply the initial batch of F414-GE-INS6 engines and manufacture the rest in India under a technology transfer arrangement. Will go
However, the TOT plans ran into bad weather due to the US government’s tough stance on the export of critical technology and were only later relaxed in 2019.
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the pursuit of jet engine technology
India has been Follow Jet engine technology for decades, and the search was shaped by the problems faced by the HF-24 Marut, the country’s first indigenous fighter.
Originally meant to be powered by a Bristol Orpheus 12 engine, the Marut was fitted with the less-powerful Bristol Orpheus 703 following a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) project to develop the engine.
The Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) in Bengaluru eventually produced a more powerful version of the Orpheus 703, which had afterburners, which increased engine power significantly. The engine, however, proved unsuitable for the Marut’s airframe – the aircraft became obsolete before its time, although many considered it to be a fine aircraft.
In 1983, the government approved work on the LCA project, after which feasibility studies in India and abroad showed that no fully suitable engines were available worldwide, the Rolls-Royce RB-1989 and the GE F404-F2J, Overall, met the standards. Demand.
GTRE, since 1982, had been working on the indigenous GTX-37 engine, and insisted on adopting it on the LCA. In December 1986, it proposed the development of the indigenous Kaveri engine. The government then approved the Rs 382.86 crore project in March 1989.
While GTRE developed nine prototypes of the Kaveri engines, as well as four core engines that underwent 3,217 hours of engine testing, which also included Russia, they failed to meet the parameters required to power a fighter.
Instead of the so-called ‘wet thrust’ of 81 kN – the thrust the engine can deliver when a fighter requires maximum power – the Kaveri generated only 70.4 kN.
In a scathing report released in 2011, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said, “Despite a cost overrun of 642 per cent and a delay of nearly 13 years, GTRE has been unable to deliver an engine that could power the LCA. ”
(Edited by Tony Rae)
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