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After a series of apprehensions, the indigenously designed ‘Kaveri’ engine, which was meant to power the homegrown ‘Tejas’ Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), is back again in the spotlight as the main contender for the LCA.
India had recently deemed the ‘Kaveri’ engine unfit after its on-going flight tests and was on the verge of finalizing either the Eurojet EJ-200 or the General Electric F-414 engines for the ‘Tejas’ LCA. However, India has made a turnaround in its decision and intends to go in for a powerful version of the ‘Kaveri’ engine to be co-designed by the French firm Snecma.
The cause for this change of plans is due to the skepticism that India has in acquiring the Eurojet or General Electric engines. India feels that Eurojet and General Electric would not be providing India with critical engine technologies despite the mandatory Transfer of Technology (ToT) in the purchase contract. The tender stipulates that 50 per cent of the technology must be transferred to India. However, there are chances that the international firm may not give the critical high-end technology that would be important for India.
Defence Ministry sources indicated that India will now co-develop an engine in India rather than manufacturing one under licence. The state-owned Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO)’s Gas Turbine and Research Establishment (GTRE), which has a design partnership with French engine-maker, Snecma, has been asked to design a more powerful successor for the ‘Kaveri’ engine.
Minister of State for Defence, Dr Pallam Raju said that the ‘Kaveri’ engine has been underestimated in terms of the benefit it will bring to India. Since large scale research and development has already been invested in the ‘Kaveri’ engine, it will be a waste of time and money to put this in the back-burner. He added that the French firm ‘Snecma’ are willing to go beyond just transfer of technology and since it is a value-added offer, it will give India better technology than what India would get from ToT from Eurojet or General Electric.
Defence Ministry officials feel that India will need to take a crucial decision soon since the ‘Kaveri’ engine has already run into lot of delays and cost-overruns. GTRE is positive that the Snecma-GTRE venture will be fully capable of producing an engine as good as the F-414 and the EJ-200. It will involve improving from the current ‘Kaveri’ engine’s maximum thrust of 65 Kilo Newtons (KN) to the 95 KN that the EJ-200 and F-414 currently have.
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