On Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s first official visit to the United States from December 7-10, Washington has signaled its willingness to co-develop with India an aircraft engine for India’s indigenous fifth-generation fighter that is called the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).
India’s Defence R&D Organization (DRDO) believes it essential to work with US company General Electric Aviation (GE) in up-rating its F-414S6 engine into the so-called F-414 Enhanced Engine, which would power the futuristic AMCA.
As Business Standard reported earlier (June 1, “Carter to face Indian demand for engine technology”), GE has been eager to partner DRDO in this lucrative project. But the US government had earlier stood in the way, reluctant to transfer to India strategic technologies, such as the high-melting-point alloys needed to build the gas turbine.
During Parrikar’s visit, Washington signaled that it has changed its mind. “Secretary (of Defense Ashton) Carter informed Minister Parrikar that in light of the strengthening relationship between the United States and India, the (US Department of Defense) has updated its policy on gas turbine engine technology transfer to India. As a result of this policy update, the Secretary is confident that the United States will be able to expand cooperation in production and design of jet engine components,” says the joint statement issued on Friday by the Indian Embassy in Washington.
That opens the doors for GE and DRDO to work together in uprating the F-414S6 engine, which India has already selected for the indigenous Tejas Mark II. This will enhance the current engine’s peak power of 90 KiloNewtons (KN), delivering 110 KN of thrust. The AMCA’s twin F-414 Enhanced Engine will thus deliver an awesome 220 KM of peak power.
The green signal for co-developing this engine appears to have been given, with the joint statement saying: “Secretary Carter and Minister Parrikar look forward to US companies working with their Indian counterparts to submit transfer requests that will benefit from this updated policy.”
For GE, this could be a commercial windfall, providing it an assured market for all India’s indigenous fighters. This would include 100 F-404 engines for the Tejas Mark I, another 100 F-414 engines for the Tejas Mark II; and 400 F-414 Enhanced Engines for a planned 200 AMCAs.
Since an aero engine’s life is about 1,500 hours, each fighter – with a service life of 5,000-6,000 hours – consumes 3.5 engines. That means GE could be supplying 700 engines for the Tejas Marks I and II, and 1,400 engines for the AMCA over their service lives. This is a sizable share of the Indian aero engine market, which the DRDO estimates to be worth Rs 3,50,000 crore over coming decades.
Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter bd popeye
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heard a couple of articles saying India is interested in Yasens in early 2015
both by the economic times, both by written by the same guy Manu Pubby.
not the most trustable journalists around, has a habit of mixing hot air in his articles.
but i don't think India will lease another Akula either,
talks about it are indeed in trouble.
Saurav jha ,(the most trustable source/ an unofficial mouthpiece of the DRDO , some say)
said the Akula deal is in trouble, but the S400 is well on its way.
he was correct about s400, we have to see wether he will be correct about the first too.
mind you saurav jha has rarely ever went wrong,
if he says the akula deal is in trouble , it is likely to be in trouble
I seriously doubt...to the point of incredulity...that the Russians will lease any Yasen to anyone, including India.
It is their latest and greatest and they are having a hard time getting them themselves.
On the other hand, the Akula IIs are very decent SSNs and the Indians already have one and operate it well. It would absolutely make GREAT sense for India to get a second one as a stop gap for them until they can build their own SSNs.
Logistically it would make sense. Training wise it would make sense. Operationally it would make sense.
I have encouraged the people I knw in India to do so and I hope they do.
Now, whether they can negotiate a good deal from Russia, and whether they believe Russia will perform is another question.
But Russia did get the 1st Akula to India and it is now in service. They know how to do this and getting a second would be very good for India. As I say, I hope it happens.
in addition to what i said in my previous post , about the indian media publishing hot air as news.
their other crimes,
they seem to be against developing an indigenous defence industry
Reuters on ‘Tejas for IAF’ pushing Defence MNCs Agenda?
their other crimes,
they seem to be against developing an indigenous defence industry
Reuters on ‘Tejas for IAF’ pushing Defence MNCs Agenda?