seems like this is for the 100KN engine the GTRE director is talking about 90KN engine I suppose
India's first aero-engine 'Kaveri' may be ready in 4 years
PARIS: India's first aero-engine 'Kaveri' may finally roll out in four years' time, ending decades of false starts to power the country's
aspirations for an indigenous fighter aircraft.
Under plans being given final touches, European aero-engine major Snecma is expected to join hands with the DRDO to unveil the military jet engine in four years, leading to commercial production of the LCA Tejas multi-role fighters.
Apart from the four-billion Euro turnover company Snecma, Russian NPO Saturn is contending for the bid to co-develop and co-produce Kaveri engine.
The DRDO is expected to shortlist the winner "any time now," a top Snecma official said and expressed confidence that once the contract is awarded the engines would be ready in four years' time.
"We have submitted a short and secure four-year plan as the Kaveri engine development time-frame," said Xavier Sahut D'izarn, Vice President, Military Engines, Snecma group.
India, after developing and testing nine prototypes of two 'Kaveri' engines, decided to seek foreign collaboration as the aero-engine repeatedly failed in high-altitude tests conducted in Russian facilities.
Refusing to be drawn in on where Indian scientists had faced problems in attempts to develop a purely indigenous fighter engine, the Snecma official said that Kaveri would be of nine-tonne capacity engine with low thrust to weight ratio.
"We will transfer full know-how and the engines would be developed and produced by HAL in India," D'izarn said.
"Its going to be a joint Indo-French engine with shared expertise with gradual transfer of full know-how," the Snecma Vice President said, adding that while high pressure part of the engine will be produced by Snecma, the low pressure part will be developed by Bangalore-based GTRE, a DRDO subsidiary.
The speed up in efforts to give final touches to the development of Kaveri engine assumes significance as Defence Minister A K Anthony has given a go-ahead for commercial production of 150 Tejas fighters.
The initial 40 Tejas are to powered by US General Electric404 engine. But DRDO officials recently said that the GE404 lacked power to enable Tejas to undertake its multi-role capability in full.
But now the Snecma official says the nine-tonne thrust capability and low thrust ratio would give the successive Tejas capability of greater manoeuvrability to undertake air-to-air, air-to-ground as well as carrier-borne operations.
The DRDO has been working on Kaveri engine for past 16 years and after coming up with problems in giving requisite high altitude thrust to the engines decided to float international tenders in 2005 for co-development.
Four companies -- US Military Engine leader Pratt and Whitny and GE, European engine maker Snecma and Russian NPO Saturn -- responded to the first Request for Proposals (RFP).
The RFP was modified and re-floated in 2006 extending the requirements from co-development to include co-production, as western companies were not forthcoming for mere co-development.
India's first aero-engine 'Kaveri' may be ready in 4 years- Airlines / Aviation-Transportation-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times