No plans to fly Kaveri engine on Tejas : GTRE

[INDIAPOSITIVE]

At Bhartiya Vigyan Sammelan (BVS) Expo 2015 held in Goa, idrw.org spoke to GTRE officials who had participated in the Expo and in a candid admission to idrw.org have confirmed that plans to test Kaveri engine on Twin engines fighter jets or Lca Tejas aircraft has been dropped permanently.

GTRE had plans to use retired Tejas PV-1 aircraft to test Kaveri engine, but MOD recently cleared closure of the ambitious engine development project undertaken by Bengaluru-based Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE).

When asked about future projects, GTRE officials said they are working on developing new engine for unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) funds for which have been cleared by MOD. While they refused to reveal thrust class of the new engine they will be developing for India’s UCAV program, but experts believe that it will be a 40 kN thrust class engine which will power UCAV.

GTRE officials confirmed that they are not working on any new engine project for fighter aircraft class. When asked about which engine will power India’s 5th Generation project? they claimed ignorance and confirmed that GTRE is not working on any new high thrust class engine for AMCA.

GTRE officials claimed that Kaveri engine was successfully tested by DRDO on 3rd November 2010 in flying test bed (FTB) IL-76 aircraft of Gromov Flight Research Institute (GFRI) in Russia. engine replaced one of the four engines in test bed aircraft was operational right from take-off to landing up to an altitude of 6km at speed of 0.6 Mach no and flew for a period of 1 hour. GTRE also further claims that more 57 hours of flight tests were covered up to 12km altitude at speed of 0.7 Mach.


No plans to fly Kaveri engine on Tejas : GTRE | idrw.org

 

[PARIKRAMA]

Kaveri program is forced closed by GOI. The derivatives were supposed to power our UCAV program. But as of now no clarity about anything of that order. The clueless part for AMCA is the truth as the replacement program is not announced at all. and murmurs of GE414 IN is getting quoted with hints in india USA jet engine co-development talk. So surely, testing on tejas is out of question now.

 

[SpArK]

 

[batanee]

I think GOI has been finding an alternative

 

[SwAggeR]

RIP Kaveri.

 

[sancho]

Kaveri program is forced closed by GOI. The derivatives were supposed to power our UCAV program. But as of now no clarity about anything of that order.

When asked about future projects, GTRE officials said they are working on developing new engine for unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) funds for which have been cleared by MOD.

Seems like Kaveri is not even an option for AURA anymore.

 

[ni8mare]

Seems like Kaveri is not even an option for AURA anymore.

what is more important is channeling the know how ...if they can make engine for AURA then its good

 

[Prajapati]

Goan Connection - Parrikar pulls up DRDO for delays in key projects

....Parrikar also directed the DRDO officials to find an alternative use for the Kaveri engine that was developed to power the Light Combat Aircraft (Tejas), which was recently shelved.....

 

[surya kiran]

Seems like Kaveri is not even an option for AURA anymore.

Its not. The derivative is. At-least that's what I heard.

 

[sancho]

Its not. The derivative is. At-least that's what I heard.

That was the plan before the Kaveri program was scrapped and now they seems to aim on a complete new engine, rather than a varient of the Kaveri.

 

[surya kiran]

That was the plan before the Kaveri program was scrapped and now they seems to aim on a complete new engine, rather than a varient of the Kaveri.

There are multiple engine projects. Sounds funny, but its true.

 

[sancho]

There are multiple engine projects. Sounds funny, but its true.

And DRDO generally has multiple projects running, but that doesn't mean that something useful comes out of it right? The fact is, we had a huge failure and where should the know how come from suddenly, that should give more hope on the next engine project? Realistically we can only hope that they learn from their mistakes and develop the next engine project in a better way, but nothing useful will come out in in the next 10 years, without external help.

 

[surya kiran]

And DRDO generally has multiple projects running, but that doesn't mean that something useful comes out of it right? The fact is, we had a huge failure and where should the know how come from suddenly, that should give more hope on the next engine project? Realistically we can only hope that they learn from their mistakes and develop the next engine project in a better way, but nothing useful will come out in in the next 10 years, without external help.

Yes, hopefully, they will take the help of the Russians or French or Americans to develop jointly before trying to make it 'indigenous'. The biggest mistake was to link the Kaveri to the LCA. One project is with SNECMA, I think. And going by how things look, one will be with the Americans.

 

[sancho]

Yes, hopefully, they will take the help of the Russians or French or Americans to develop jointly before trying to make it 'indigenous'. The biggest mistake was to link the Kaveri to the LCA. One project is with SNECMA, I think. And going by how things look, one will be with the Americans.

I wouldn't put too much hope on the Americans, the list of things they actually are ready to be produced in India, the minor important parts of the M777 they would divert to India and even the possible changes in the nuclear liability issue, doesn't really show much improvements in actual technical and industrial support.

 

[Echo_419]

I wouldn't put too much hope on the Americans, the list of things they actually are ready to be produced in India, the minor important parts of the M777 they would divert to India and even the possible changes in the nuclear liability issue, doesn't really show much improvements in actual technical and industrial support.

We need to Invest more in the Domestic R&D for developing such things,sure it will take time but atleast we will have all the know how to tailor make it according to our needs & to be fully independent in that field