During the last defence expo at Gandhi Nagar, while discussing the possibility of India developing an indigenous aero-engine, head of India’s leading defence technology firm, suggested that it is very difficult as India lacks any knowhow and technical expertise to develop them. Private sector on whole does not have required capability to do so, he added. If one surveys the defence ecosystem of India, one can say besides Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL) no one has the desired technical expertise. Among the two, HAL leads with decades of experience in manufacturing and maintaining hundreds of engine for Indian military’s aircraft of all types.

On March 1, HAL received a contract worth INR 5,249.72 crore from ministry of defence for manufacturing of RD-33 engines.  “These aero engines will be produced by the Koraput Division of HAL. These Aero Engines are expected to fulfil the need of Indian Air Force (IAF) to sustain the operational capability of the MiG-29 fleet for the residual service life,” government said in a statement.

“The aero-engines will be manufactured under Transfer of Technology (TOT) license from the Russian OEM. The programme will focus on indigenisation of several high value critical components, which would help increase the indigenous content of future Repair and Overhaul (ROH) tasks of RD-33 aero-engines,” the statement added.

MiG29 and RD-33

First ordered in 1984 from USSR, MiG-29 joined Indian Air Force fleet in 1987. Indian operated 66 MiG29 in three squadrons which went through a USD 900 million mid-life upgrade to extend their service life by a decade. Post upgrade they are named MiF-29UPG. The new Rd-33 engine would extend the operational life by another one decade. India also operates 45 MiG-29K/KUB, naval version in two squadrons for its aircraft carrier fleet which are powered by RD-33MK, improved version of RD-33.

The Engine Division, Koraput was established in 1964 as part of MiG Complex set up for license manufacturing of the MiG-21. The first engine to be manufactured here was R11-F2/F2S turbojet engine for MiG-21FL aircraft.

Since then Koraput has been churning out engines powering part of Indian fighter programmes. It went on to manufacture R25 series for MiG-21BIS aircraft, R29B for MiG27M jets. Till date, the facility has manufactured over 1337 and overhauled over 7700 engines including R11, R25, R29B and RD-33.

In 2005, Rosoboronexport and HAL signed a USD 250 million contract for manufacturing 120 RD-33/3series at the Koraput facility. The facility started manufacturing of RD-33 in 2007.

Indo-Russian Engine Cooperation

One of the biggest Indo-Russian engine cooperation projects is the manufacturing of AL31FP which powers Russian twin-engine air superiority fighter Su-30MKI. Indian operates 272 Su-30s which are expected to be operational for another two decades. The Sukhoi engine division, Koraput was established in 2002 to manufacture Russian United Engine Corporation’s (UEC)AL31FP. The production of engines commenced in 2004 and till date the division has manufactured 517 and overhauled more than 670 engines.

As per the October 2000 Intergovernmental agreement between Russia and India, HAL was contracted to manufacture 410 engines from 2004-17.

Since 2005, about 130 specialists from various divisions of the UEC were sent to HAL. Training and transfer of experience were carried out to HAL specialists in mastering complex metallurgical, welding, production and assembly operations, as well as testing of the AL-31FP.

The manufacturing was to be done in five phases where in the fifth phase was manufacturing from material provided by Russia. The first three phases are characterised by step-by-step license manufacturing and testing of assembly and sub-assembly. The stage IV manufacturing of AL31FP began with first five deliveries in 2011. The fourth phase of manufacturing is defined by full manufacturing of assembly and sub-assemblies (except forging from material) and testing of units, sub-units and modules of engine.

In March 2017, HAL completed manufacturing of 50 engines in phase V and UEC and HAL entered into a long-term cooperation contract during the Russian-Indian military-industrial conference. The document defines the key aspects of interaction between the parties in the after-sales service of aircraft engines AL-31FP, RD-33 of various series, RD-33MK, R-25-300, R29B-300, operated by India.

In 2023, Russia, reportedly offered India a new engine as part of Su-30MKI up gradation program.

The Indian Aero-Engine

In spite HAL manufacturing variety of cutting edge aero-engines, India is still far from realising the dream of having an Indian designed and developed engine to power its aircraft. In June last year, US engine major General Electric (GE) and HAL reached an agreement to produce F414 engines for Light Combat Aircraft(LCA) Mk2 Tejas.

India is working with French engine maker Safran to develop jet engine for aircraft of future. On the other hand the DRDO developed Kaveri engine is yet to mature and its small scaled version known as dry-Kaveri is being developed for Indian Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle ‘Ghatak’. In April last year, Godrej Aerospace, announced winning “a contract from GTRE (Gas Turbine Research Establishment) to manufacture the 48 kN Dry Kaveri Engine's Modules. This is a significant milestone in India's quest for self-reliance.”

Godrej is expected to develop the engine by 2026. The six engine manufacturing contract is to provide engines for more trials and help in completing the development of the engine.

Way Forward

If one looks at the existing and proposed projects in aero-engine, India probably is the only country to manufacture military jet engines from Russia, US, UK and Europe. Yet India is still at least a decade away from prototype of Indian designed and developed engine.

One can say for sure that the import of air platforms from variety of sources has led to this situation and India has failed to build upon the full technology transfer from Russian partners.

The decision to develop home grown fighter Tejas powered by US engine is probably the biggest mistake. On one hand DRDO was working with Safran on Kaveri and on the India was designing LCA Tejas around GE F414. Even if the entire projects go as per proposed timeline, indigenising the new engines would take at least a decade. Something India has already achieved with Russian engines in the middle of last decade.

Going forward, if everything goes as per plan, India would still be dependent foreign collaborators for long and would have to maintain multiple production and maintenance lines from various countries.

Would US be interested in providing India with the same level of technology transfer as Russia? Would France be interested in parting away with design data acquired over almost a century by its sole engine manufacturer losing a big Indian market? With three engine manufacturer and two major aircraft manufacturer, US has a very large market and sharing technology for contract does not make much business sense, except they are ready to trade technology for strategic gain?

India needs to relook at engine requirement and develop an aero engine with single partner who has demonstrated deep technology sharing. Multiple collaborations would lead to no strategic industrial partnership. Some time putting all eggs in same basket make more sense.