India’s jet engine development programme has been a long and challenging one with limited success till date. It’s a story of perseverance and determination. India’s jet engine development paradox revolves around India’s strong Aerospace ambition, clashing with challenges of creating state-of-the-art technology in a field that demands both expertise, innovation, research and immense resources. India, despite its push for self-reliance in critical technologies, including cryogenic rocket engines, has not been able to develop a jet engine for its fighter aircraft. There has been a long struggle to develop an indigenous jet engine despite having a significant aerospace industry, a large pool of skilled manpower and huge domestic demand. Today, India has relied heavily on imported engines notably from Russia, the USA and the UK.
India made its first attempt in the 1960s but a serious programme was launched only in the year 1989 with GTRE GTX-35VS, the Kaveri engine development programme. Subsequently, in 1990, India collaborated with Russia to develop the Sukhoi/HAL FGFA engine, however, the project got cancelled later. In 2010, the AMCA programme was launched for the indigenous 5th generation combat aircraft with the indigenous engine. To meet the immediate requirement of engines for the LCA project as well as to bridge the technological gap, India has signed collaborative agreements with the U.S. firm, General Electric and the French firm, Safran. Recently, India made significant progress in the engine development with the Kaveri engine being cleared for the in-flight testing for the unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), like Ghatak developed by ADA, ADE, GTRE, all DRDO establishments. The successful development of the Kaveri engine could pave the way for future integration into more advanced fighter aircraft.
The science of Jet Propulsion is a highly complex and demanding technology presently mastered by only the four countries of the world, notably USA, Russia, France & UK. The fighter jet engine, being the most complex engineering, is the heart of an aircraft requiring great thrust, agility and combat performance. It calls for great knowledge and expertise of aerodynamics, thermodynamics and material science. Concept simulations, wind tunnel tastings are used to validate initial design specifications. Advanced materials like titanium alloy, single crystal super alloys and ceramics developed to withstand extreme severe performance characteristics with temperatures almost close to 2000 degrees centigrade. Each major component of the engine, such as the compressor, turbine, nozzle and combustion chamber, is meticulously designed and tested. Once the initial development of the desired engine is achieved as per design specifications, a prototype engine is developed. Prototype undergoes rigorous ground and flight testings for its performance, reliability and safety. It's subjected to extreme conditions of altitude, temperature and combat conditions.
There are several compelling reasons for India’s Jet engine paradox. Complexity – the development of a Jet engine is a highly complex task, requiring significant knowledge, expertise, time and resources. Lack of Infrastructure- The Indian aerospace industry has lacked the required infrastructure for design, testing, metallurgy for a successful jet engine. Leadership- for some reason, the desired leadership for an effective and result-oriented focus towards jet engine development was lacking since the beginning. Brain drain- since independence, a large number of bright scientific minds have been migrating to the US and European countries for greener pastures, thereby depriving the local talent pool required for such high-tech development. Funding- Jet engine development is a capital-intensive industry, which, for whatever reasons, was not appreciated by the Indian decision makers in the past.
Recent Developments on India’s Jet Engine front have been both indigenous as well as with friendly countries. Despite the daunting nature of the task in hand, the Indigenous initiatives are as follows: Kaveri Engine- an initiative of the Bengaluru-based DRDO concern, Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) has been under development since late 80s. It has encountered numerous problems over all these years, however, recently it has tasted a significant success wherein it has been cleared for the air test in a facility in Russia. This engine is initially planned to be utilized for the indigenous UCAV before its further improvements to be used in India’s AMCA programme.
HTFE-25 engine- This is a 25 KN turbofan engine under development by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). This engine is intended to be used in single engine trainer jets, business jets and UAVs. Two engines have been produced is presently undergoing trials and further improvements.
Private Indian Firms actively participating in the field of jet engine development are not many. The primary private firm actively participating in the jet engine development is DG Propulsion, which has designed and built jet engines like J20, J40, J60 for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Other Indian defence sector companies like Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Mahindra Aerospace companies are yet to establish themselves in the Jet engine sector.
Indo- American Collaboration GE F414 engine- During Prime Minister Modi’s last state visit to USA, India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) entered into $ 716 million deal with USA’s General Electric (GE) for the transfer of technology for the manufacture of 99 GE F414 engines for its indigenous fighter aircraft LCA Tejas MK-ll. This engine is a turbofan engine used by the US Navy for over 30 years. It’s equipped with a dual–channel full authority digital engine control (FADEC), a six-stage high pressure turbine and a fuel hydraulic system for nozzle area control. It offers exceptional throttle response, excellent afterburner light and stability and unrestricted engine performance. F414 engine holds great significance for India’s LCA Tejas MK-ll programme as it’s a strategic decision to overcome the present major gap in India’s indigenous fighter aircraft development programme bogged down by the non-availability of a suitable local jet engine. Once the local production of F414 engines starts in the country, it may be utilized for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). This agreement is a significant component of the iCET agreement with the USA. However, this deal has got delayed and has run into rough weather with cost overruns during the deep technical discussions between the negotiating members of HAL and GE representatives.
Indo-France Aero Engine Co-Development is another significant initiative by the Indian government. Under this programme, the French engine major company Safran will collaborate with DRDO to develop a new engine for India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). This collaboration aims to bring the expertise of both countries to a state-of-the-art that meets the future requirements of the Indian Air Force. This programme is different in the sense that it involves transfer of technology including design, development, certification and production. This engine is expected to be a significant improvement over existing engines with advanced features and capabilities that will give the IAF a significant edge in combat operations. The cooperation extends to various aspects of defence technology, including the joint development of combat aircraft engines and industrial cooperation for heavy lift helicopters under the Indian Multi Role Helicopters (IMRH) programme. This collaboration has the potential not only to meet the immediate requirement of AMCA programme but also to greatly help India’s engine indigenisation programme, thereby revolutionising the Indian Aerospace industry.
Indo-Russian Collaboration has a long history in the overall defence package of India, however, there have been few significant collaborations in the joint development of jet engines. Both countries are currently collaborating on the joint production of Sukhoi fighter jet engine, the AL-31FP engine. This partnership aims to increase India’s self-reliance in defence technology by locally producing these engines rather than solely importing from Russia. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has recently signed an agreement with IAF for the supply of 240 engines for Sukhoi 30 MKI aircraft. This collaboration would also pave the way for future upgrades to the SU-30 MKI fleet with newer engines. Russia has also offered its advanced ODK Kalimov-110 KN engines for India’s 5th generation fighter programme. These engines are known for increased reliability, versatility and efficiency. This Russian offer is to keep Americans away from India’s future fighter aircraft development programme.
Indo-UK Collaboration in defence hasn’t been as extensive as Indo-American or Indo-Russian, but they too are a significant player, especially in the advanced military jet engines. Recently, during the second India-UK 2+2 Foreign and Defence dialogue in New Delhi, the UK expressed strong support for Rolls Royce’s proposal to associate with India’s AMCA fighter aircraft programme.
India, post-independence, remained a marginal Defence and Aerospace manufacturing country due to various reasons including highly questionable policy of not developing major indigenous defence industries. India remained heavily dependent on foreign vendors for almost all its major defence equipment, including aerospace, so much so that it achieved the ignominious tag of the world’s largest importer of defence hardware. However, in the last decade, India under its Make in India, “Atmanirbhar Bharat” programme has given tremendous policy and resources boost to the indigenous defence manufacturing industry. The kind of success the Indian Space industry has achieved, the same unfortunately, has not been replicated in the Aerospace industry, especially in the Jet engine manufacture. However, with the current focus of the government, both through domestic industries as well as smart foreign gov to gov (G to G) collaborations with the top foreign jet engine manufacturers, it’s hoped that India would be able to bridge the gap in its aerospace industry. These initiatives are likely to leapfrog our Aerospace industry in plugging the strategic gap in our jet engine sector, thereby making India also a major world player in the Aerospace sector, as India is presently in the Space sector. Jai Hind!
