India may be partnering with Safran and Rolls-Royce to develop its indigenous fighter jet engines for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) program. There may be discontent in some quarters over the purchase of more Rafale jets from France but the indigenisation of Rafale jets and its weapon systems is going to bring in a massive change as well. Amidst all this development, the Defence Research and Development Organisation has achieved what India had only dreamed of for decades. India’s own fighter jet engine, Kaveri, which has been in development for at least three decades (since 1989), is finally throwing not only flames but desired results as well.
The Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been working on Kaveri upgrades and recently, it showcased the Kaveri’s full afterburner to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Kaveri engine, which was initially conceived to power the Tejas fighter jet, may now power the Ghatak UCAV. Before going into details, here the latest breakthrough made in Kaveri engine development that is pointing towards India’s self-reliance vision.
While there are claims that the Kaveri engine program failed due to lack of R&D fund support, the DRDO has time and again confirmed that money has not been an issue for the program. Critics believe that the program struggled due to technological gaps which India didnot have. Recently, DRDO Chairman Samir V Kamat said that Kaveri engine has not delivered the thrust that is required for the LCA Tejas. He said that the engine is working very well, it has given us a thrust of 72 kilonewton but the LCA needs a thrust of 83-85 kilonewton. “So, Kaveri is not going to be used in the LCA but a derivative of the Kaveri engine will be used for an unmanned combat aerial vehicle,” he said.
However, according to the latest information, the Kaveri engine afterburner test success reportedly displayed increased thurst of 81–83 kN. This happened after the GTRE made significant technological changes in the engine. Notably, the dry thrust of 49 kN of Karveri is now nearly equal to the GE F404 level, the engine being used for Tejas.
The air mass flow of Kaveri is higher at 78 kg/s vs 65 kg/s of M88-2 engine developed by France. The only drawback of Kaveri is its weight, which was around 300 kgs extra compared to other rivals and now the DRDo has reportedly reduced 100 kgs in the latest upgrades. This means the gap is now around 200kgs.
If reports are to be believed, Godrej Aerospace is set to deliver two more derivates of Kaveri- D2 and D3 to the GTRE this year. Criticis believe that if things go as planned, HAL’s dependence on American firm GE for engines may end soon, making India self-reliant for Tejas LCA engines by 2027 end.
