The U.S. is considering an application received from engine manufacturer General Electric (GE) to jointly produce jet engines for fighter aircraft produced indigenously by India. This includes the GE-414 engines selected by India to power the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk2 and the fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), both under development.
It is pertinent to note that an earlier effort at co-developing a jet engine under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) has failed to take off owing to U.S. domestic legislation following which the Joint Working Group on it was wound up.
“In the field of defence manufacturing, the two sides agreed to focus on joint production of key items of mutual interest. The U.S. committed to expeditious review of the licence application submitted by General Electric to produce jet engines in India for the indigenously manufactured LCA.
“The United States commits to an expeditious review of this application,” said a fact sheet issued by the White House on “U.S.-India elevate strategic partnership with the initiative on iCET.”
The fact sheet outlined a new bilateral defence industrial cooperation roadmap to accelerate technological cooperation between both countries for joint development and production, with an initial focus on exploring projects related to jet engines, munition-related technologies, and other systems.
Development of a fighter engine is among the top priorities for India and is considering three global engine makers — General Electric of the U.S., Rolls Royce of the U.K. and Safran of France — for joint collaboration to develop 110KN engine. The LCA is powered by the GE-F404 engine while the LCA-Mk2 and AMCA in future will be envisaged to be powered by the more powerful GE-F414 engines. (Times of India.com)
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