Despite MIDHANI’s Success, Kaveri Engine Still Relies on Key Imported Alloys, Hindering True Self-Reliance Goal

Despite MIDHANI’s Success, Kaveri Engine Still Relies on Key Imported Alloys, Hindering True Self-Reliance Goal


The ambitious development of an indigenous jet engine for India's fighter aircraft continues to face significant hurdles, with new data revealing a persistent reliance on critical imported raw materials.

While domestic industry has shown remarkable progress, the goal of complete self-reliance in this strategic defence sector, a key objective of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative, remains a challenge.

The Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), which is spearheading the Kaveri Engine Derivative (KDE) project, has a total raw material requirement of approximately 16,500 kilograms. A recent procurement list indicates that about a quarter of this, or 4,124 kilograms, must be sourced from foreign suppliers.

This dependency is most critical in the category of specialised superalloys, which are essential for components that must withstand the extreme temperatures and stresses inside a jet engine.

Specifically, the entire requirement of 1,650 kilograms of L-605 alloy, a cobalt-based superalloy valued for its high-temperature strength and corrosion resistance, is being imported. Additionally, 38 kilograms of specialised tubing for the engine are also sourced entirely from abroad.

This reliance on foreign materials exists despite major contributions from Hyderabad-based Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI), a key defence public sector undertaking.

MIDHANI is supplying over 13,300 kilograms of advanced materials for the project, including large quantities of aerospace-grade titanium and nickel-based alloys. This demonstrates India's growing capability in producing complex metallurgical products for the defence sector.

However, the inability to domestically produce niche materials like the L-605 alloy highlights a critical gap in the nation's manufacturing ecosystem. These imported materials not only increase the project's cost, estimated to be over Rs 10,000 crore, but also introduce a strategic vulnerability.

Global supply chain disruptions or geopolitical tensions could potentially delay or halt the project, which is vital for India's future air combat capabilities.

The KDE project is a successor to the original Kaveri engine program and is intended to power future unmanned and manned aircraft, including the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has partnered with French aerospace major Safran to overcome technical challenges and mature the engine design, which is aimed at producing a thrust of 81-95 kilonewtons (kN).

Defence experts note that until India develops the capability to manufacture these specific high-performance alloys, its ambition for a fully indigenous fighter jet engine will be constrained.

In response, GTRE is reportedly exploring long-term strategies, including technology transfer agreements and partnerships with private Indian companies, to establish domestic production lines for these critical materials.

The outcome of these efforts will be crucial in determining the timeline for achieving true self-reliance in aerospace engine technology.
 
Those societies who mastered in metallurgy became advanced Industrialized nation in modern time ! Take engine development as national project and govt must pump in funds success will be there ! Better we ink deal with Rolls Royce to make 100- 120 KN engines !
 
Why would these master these technologies when we never made a fighter jet engine on our own, there should be a requirment first for industries to invest in different technologies and production of materials.
 
Midhani made single-crystal alloy capable of withstanding 1400-1500 °C of heat. That's around same as Russia's AL-31. Good for 4th generation turbo-fan engines but not good for either Tejas MK1A or AMCA. This dated technology was handed by DRDO's NMRL. NMRL bought it from GE.
 
It's really a shame for us that even after all this time we could not build a decent engine that's fully indigenous. Maybe if we let all the private players in the Indian defence industry to collaborate with no interference from the government, we can achieve it.
 
It is time to stop too much advertising DRDO and MIDHANI advertigement.
We should involve private companies and encourage them to colaborate with foreign partners to make in India high-performance Aerospace alloys like Titanium alloy Steelalloy cobalt and nickel base alloys. We already have steel plants aluminum and titanium plants. A small addition or alteration may meet the requirement.
 
These are imported for prototype purposes. Once the engine becomes operational with the desired thrust, it will be produced locally.
 
Focus on reaching desired thrust first; suppliers can be indigenized later. I mean, we don't have an engine ecosystem, so why would there be a supplier for it?
 
India has just made several prototypes only which isn’t a big enough number for any industry to invest a large amount of money in buying the machinery, equipment, technology and facility to start manufacturing the jet engine.

Once these prototypes have passed all of there tests and is certified then we can make some progress. Once we place a large number of 50 or 100 engines then our indigenous companies will be able to provide and manufacture more Indian raw materials, parts, components, equipment and technology. The indigenous content rate will continue to increase and more will be manufactured indigenously which is what we want. India needs a lot more of this.
 
One step at a time.

There is no way we can build a 100% indegenous Engine in one go.

There is no shame in importing some parts, even critical ones, in the beginning. Once we start serial production, there will be profits from the program. A part of these profits can be diverted to indegenous R&D targetted towards further localisation. It should be a decadal goal to ensure every critical part is localised.

Also, we shouldn't exect that the first Engines will have quality comparable to imported Engines. Once the Engines start flying and having problems, our Engineers will learn and fix those problems.

The most important things is - start serial production of the Kaveri dry Engine and the Ghatak UCAV. Fly them a lot. Identify issues, and fix them.

The road is long and hard but there is no other way.
 

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