Negotiations for Tejas aircraft engines soon

[Choppers]

Negotiations for Tejas aircraft engines soon​

Bangalore: The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is set to start commercial negotiations with aircraft engine makers Eurojet Turbo GmbH and General Electric Aviation for 99 aircraft engines for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas.

The two engine manufacturers had been shortlisted after expressions of interest for an alternate engine for the LCA were issued last year. Eurojet, a European consortium, is offering its EJ200 engine, which powers the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter plane while the American firm has put in bids for its GE F414 engine used in the Boeing F/A-18 E/F Superhornet. The new engine will power the Mark II variant of the Tejas, which currently runs on F-404 engines made by GE.

“Soon, we should be starting commercial negotiations, probably in a couple of weeks,” said PS Subramanyam, director, ADA. “The technical evaluation is over. I think both of them (companies) are good candidates.” The Tejas aircraft ,with its current engine and configuration, is expected to be inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) from March next year with state-run military plane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd supplying 20 planes initially. The proposal for a second batch of 20 planes has been cleared by the defence ministry and negotiations are on, Subramanyam said.

The IAF has indicated the need for five squadrons of the Mark-II, which will feature the alternate, more powerful engine and upgraded electronics. “Wherever there is obsolescence setting in, in terms of advancement of electronics, we are going for state-of-the-art electronics in the Mark-II,” said Subramanyam. Even as the process of procurement of engines is on, ADA has begun two tracks of design based on the shortlisted engines so as to not lose time, he added. Meanwhile, a proposal by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to co-develop the indigenous Kaveri engine with French engine house Snecma, is under consideration.

An upgraded and more powerful Kaveri engine is being seen initially as a replacement engine for the first batch of Tejas aircraft, Subramanyam added.

“Every aircraft in its lifetime needs two replacements. Some of those engines are already looking for that. By the time Kaveri gets developed and demonstrated, those engines can start coming as replacement engines for the first 20, 40 (aircraft),” he said. “There is full scope of what their profile is. It is very clear in our mind. The Kaveri engine profile for the next 30 years has a very strong dovetailing into the LCA programme,” he added.

Negotiations for Tejas aircraft engines soon

 

[ramu]

An upgraded and more powerful Kaveri engine is being seen initially as a replacement engine for the first batch of Tejas aircraft, Subramanyam added.


Kaveri ... Not sure when this will be reality. I have stopped believing such statements. Let them show some results / numbers and we can take them seriously.

 

[praveen007]

sir,
isnt to much over kill. kaveri is still long way to go before being considerd as replacement. 1st they should use

 

[Kinetic]

sir,
isnt to much over kill. kaveri is still long way to go before being considerd as replacement. 1st they should use

Recent tests of Kaveri is successful. I remember there was a news that they will integrate it with Tejas by next year. Also marine version already got a go ahead from Navy.

 

[Just Yash]

when we will choose engine? any time frame?

 

[jha]

i dont have the link right now but somewhere it was mentioned that KAVERI will not beused to power LCA . just one tech. demonstrator will be powered by this and in future UAVs and small naval vessels will use it...

i'll search the link and post..

 

[RedKnight]

Why the heck dont buy engines from Russia or Europe and make LCA fly worthy and induct it before loosing many years? and keep on working with Kaveri in the meantime? why don't people don't understand simple stuff

 

[Trident]

Why the heck dont buy engines from Russia or Europe and make LCA fly worthy and induct it before loosing many years? and keep on working with Kaveri in the meantime? why don't people don't understand simple stuff

i think thats exactly what we are doing now

 

[gogbot]

Why the heck dont buy engines from Russia or Europe and make LCA fly worthy and induct it before loosing many years? and keep on working with Kaveri in the meantime? why don't people don't understand simple stuff

Your , making a conclusion without all the fact's .

If you would let me i would like to explain

Initially, it was decided to equip the Tejas prototype aircraft with the General Electric F404-GE-F2J3 afterburning turbofan engine. Simulataneously, in 1986, a parallel programme to develop an indigenous powerplant was also launched. Led by the Gas Turbine Research Establishment, the GTRE GTX-35VS, named "Kaveri", was expected to replace the F404 on all production aircraft. However, progress in the Kaveri development programme was slowed by technical difficulties. In mid-2004, the Kaveri failed its high-altitude tests in Russia, ending the last hopes of introducing it with the first production Tejas aircraft

Continued development snags with the Kaveri resulted in the 2003 decision to procure the uprated F404-GE-IN20 engine for the eight pre-production LSP aircraft and two naval prototypes. The ADA awarded General Electric a US$105 million contract in February 2004 for development engineering and production of 17 -IN20 engines, delivery of which began in 2006. In Feb 2007, HAL ordered an additional 24 F404-IN20 afterburning engines to power the first operational squadron of Tejas fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force. Before the subsequent order, F404-GE-IN20 was trial-installed in the Tejas as part of final evaluations toward flight-testing, scheduled for mid-2007. The F404-GE-IN20 engine generated more than 19,000 pounds (85 kN) uninstalled thrust and completed 330 hours of Accelerated Mission testing, equivalent of 1,000 hours of flight operation. The -IN20 succeeds -F2J3 development engines used for nearly 600 flights, cumulatively covering eight engines

The Tejas is more than flight worthy otherwise it would not be inducted. It's current performance with the American Engine

Performance
Maximum speed: Mach 2+(2,376+ km/h at high altitude)at 15,000m

Range: 3000 km (1,840 mi (without refueling))

Service ceiling: 16,500 m (54,000 ft (engine re-igniter safely capable))

Wing loading: 221.4 kg/m² (45.35 lb/ft²)

Thrust/weight: 1.02

There is very little wrong with this performance.
Having the Kaveri Engine would have been better , as it produce's slightly more thrust , but it only recently as of 2009 cleared it's flight tests and a lot of work still remain's.

But beyond all that. IAF has changed its requirements for the Engine , they now want a 100KN of engine thrust. Both the Kaveri and GE-404 engine are un-capable of producing such high thrust in their current states.

The new engine is not about flight worthiness , there will be 40 Tejas mk-I's with the American Ge-404 engine installed.

But the new Engine is for all intents and purposes an upgrade. IAF want's a 100KN engine , The new GE-414 and Ej200 engine's can be used to fill the requirements. Installing these engines could also enable super cruise and in the case of the EJ200 TVC.

 

[Dark Angel]

 

[Chaluboy]

Honestly. I am fed up of this dragging on so long -

 

[trident2010]

Honestly. I am fed up of this dragging on so long -

We need to drain out the "babugiri" from the Indian atitude. It is getting painful to bear it now.

 

[Markus]

Honestly. I am fed up of this dragging on so long -

Absolutely.

 

[illuminatidinesh]

Honestly. I am fed up of this dragging on so long -

Unfortunately cant help it right..........
I think we are going for EF engine....... The other day had some news that they are offering us.

 

[Dash]

We need to drain out the "babugiri" from the Indian atitude. It is getting painful to bear it now.

shhhhhhhhhhh...Maoists are listening....