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By Manjeet Negi: Even as India is pushing the ‘Make in India’ programme in the defence sector, New Delhi is holding crucial discussions on manufacturing of the engines for its future indigenous fighter jet projects with France and the United States of America.
Discussions are going on with the US for the General Electric (GE) engines for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) MK2, while the French proposal is for a high-powered engine for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), government officials informed India Today.
The engines are crucial for India as it is looking to manufacture all its future fighter aircraft within India under the ‘Make in India’ programme, officials further told India Today.
The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk2 is expected to be ready for induction by 2028 while the first flight of the Advanced MediumCombat Aircraft (AMCA) may take seven years and the induction can take ten years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit the United States of America (USA) in June next month while he will also fly to France later this year in July to participate in the French National Day. The Indian side is evaluating the performances of both the jet engines well as the aspects related to price, and the extent of transfer of technology and manufacturing in India.
LCA Tejas Mk2 and AMCA are the two major fighter aircraft whose manufacturing projects are currently going on in India. India also has plans of manufacturing 114 multirole fighter aircraft where Indian lenders would partner with foreign defence firms to manufacture advanced fighter jets within the country outside the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) facilities for the first time.
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