GTRE Seeks At Least $4.5 Billion for 110-120kN AMCA Engine Development, Citing Extensive R&D, Testing, and Validation Process

The Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), a laboratory under India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has announced that it requires a minimum of $4.5 billion (approximately ₹37,500 crore) to develop a next-generation engine for the country's Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) fighter jet program. This was stated by Dr. SV Ramana Murty, Director of GTRE.

The new engine, designed to produce a thrust of 110-120 kilonewtons (kN), represents a significant technological leap for India. This level of thrust is comparable to engines used in advanced fighter jets like the Eurofighter Typhoon (which uses the EJ200 engine) and the Dassault Rafale (which uses the Snecma M88 engine). The proposed investment reflects the complexity of creating such a powerful and sophisticated engine.

The engine is planned to feature several key improvements. These include a better thrust-to-weight ratio (meaning more power for its size), greater fuel efficiency (allowing for longer flight times), increased durability, and potentially some features to reduce the aircraft's radar signature. These characteristics are essential for a modern combat aircraft to be effective.

A substantial amount of the funding will be dedicated to research and development (R&D). This phase includes the initial design, the creation of prototypes, and rigorous testing under a wide range of simulated flight conditions. The requested sum also includes the set up for making the engine, including the advanced manufacturing process for the complex parts. Moreover, there will be the test set up for entire trials of engine.

Beyond initial development and production, the budget also covers crucial steps like fitting the engine into the AMCA aircraft, conducting extensive flight tests, and achieving the required certifications to ensure the engine is safe and ready for operational use. The successful development of this engine is critical for India's strategic autonomy in defence technology, reducing reliance on foreign suppliers for crucial military hardware.

 

[Monil Patel]

They won't get it ,if they wanted to import engine they would even get 10 billion but indegionus no sorry

 

[sunnyp343]

Give them the money but i have low hopes on govt. Compnies.

 

[PrasannaBJN]

GTRE wasted our Money. They did not create a 90KN Jet engine all these 30 odd years. Not sure of they can develop the engine for amca which is of 110 + class engine.. We will waste 38000 crores again for nothing. Better to give it to Private companies like Godrej aerospace or Reliance or Adani. They will definietely create that engine in next 5 to 6 years

 

[Somnath Sinhababu]

That's the problem with the government... The government is not allocating the required funds and then complains that India is not self-reliant... but how will it be if you don't give funds for R&D? DRDO asked for money for an indigenous submarine project, but the government doesn't care, and there are many examples like these... Learn something from China.

 

[Ravi]

What was GTRE doing past 40 years? Govt should provide the finding to a private company with achievable targets.

 

[Gaming Guru]

4.5 billion?? Wow. Even after this they will fail to develop a powerful engine. Private sector should build the engine.

 

[Rajesh Bhatnagar]

Mr. GTRE-DRDO,

It is easy to demand money, but if you see past records of GTRE, which are not good, and to expect hard-earned money, they should have some good results before asking for money. Their only engine is not at all satisfactory and is of no use. Any important item like a fighter engine is very critical and has to be ready in some time limits, and not like many years of delay, which makes that thing obsolete and irrelevant.

So it's better to first improve your department, do proper homework and serious research on engine engineering, and then show some results for funds, because 4-5 billion dollars is a lot of money and certainly not for loot.

Earn respect and then get money.

 

[P.K Senapati]

India is a developing country. We do not have the luxury to just spend money in the name of research and technology development.

Give a worthy product even if it takes more time and money than as originally planned.

Better to go for co-development of a 110kN engine with GE or Safran, give a useful product.

 

[Superpower Bharat]

Whoever questions the DRDO and says that this fund must go to a private organization, I only ask one simple question: DRDO made a 49kN dry thrust engine and a wet thrust of 81kN with only 500 million dollars. How much thrust jet engine made by any private companies in India? Now, the second question: If you have to fund, then whom will you fund? The organization that can make an 81kN engine or the company who can make a 2-4kN jet engine? Anybody, please answer.

 

[tlsmani]

GTRE wasted our Money. They did not create a 90KN Jet engine all these 30 odd years. Not sure of they can develop the engine for amca which is of 110 + class engine.. We will waste 38000 crores again for nothing. Better to give it to Private companies like Godrej aerospace or Reliance or Adani. They will definietely create that engine in next 5 to 6 years

True.No one knows their capabilities.Whether this huge investment without any time limit will be useful.They have to involve Pvt partners to fulfill the commitments.On their own they cannot deliver whatever might be the cost . There's no accountability

 

[beencensured]

India is a developing country. We do not have the luxury to just spend money in the name of research and technology development.

Give a worthy product even if it takes more time and money than as originally planned.

Better to go for co-development of a 110kN engine with GE or Safran, give a useful product.

Co-development does not assure any development, but, yes, local development has raised the content and reliability of AL31F engines, and so made also Kaveri. If there is no active R&D, then it is impossible to develop higher thrust engines. But there seems to be some mastery that, being able to fix AL31F engine troubles, indicates ability to make such class of engines, and so should be made. Of course, this figure is probably for a ten-year development program for engines and should be done as minimum requirements of nation. Work should be done also to incorporate Kaveri in LSP Tejas.

 

[R. Singh]

Better we ink deal with Rolls Royce to make 90-95 KN class engine with 100% TOT and 125 KN class engines for AMCA program it will also help us to seek STVL capable engine for AMCA-Navy !

 

[Pardeep]

Handover this project to ISRO. They are more serious ppl. if they can build a cryogenic engine, they can also built a aero engine.

 

[sas]

All this announcement is fine, but will there be a proper audit of the money? Will results be guaranteed and accountability for failure fixed? The answer is no. GTRE's track record of delivery of results is horrible.

 

[Deepak Hegde]

Whoever questions the DRDO and says that this fund must go to a private organization, I only ask one simple question: DRDO made a 49kN dry thrust engine and a wet thrust of 81kN with only 500 million dollars. How much thrust jet engine made by any private companies in India? Now, the second question: If you have to fund, then whom will you fund? The organization that can make an 81kN engine or the company who can make a 2-4kN jet engine? Anybody, please answer.

The question you need to answer yourself is: what is the output from the 500 million dollars (of your claim, which itself is questionable!)? Is the engine even today of any use? Besides claims, has it been proven for use on anything? Even a drone? That's why anyone with common sense will question giving any funds to black holes!

 

[SURESH RAO]

Only the USA, Russia, and China have mastered high-thrust fighter jet engines (more than 120 kN thrust). The UK and France have only mastered 80 kN thrust engines. Both the UK and France are 10 years behind.

 

[GhoshDiganta]

I do think they might get the full money but may be not at once but with several validation phases.

 

[abhinav srivastava]

4.5 billion?? Wow. Even after this they will fail to develop a powerful engine. Private sector should build the engine.

How much funding did they get for kaveri?

 

[PrasannaBJN]

Whoever questions the DRDO and says that this fund must go to a private organization, I only ask one simple question: DRDO made a 49kN dry thrust engine and a wet thrust of 81kN with only 500 million dollars. How much thrust jet engine made by any private companies in India? Now, the second question: If you have to fund, then whom will you fund? The organization that can make an 81kN engine or the company who can make a 2-4kN jet engine? Anybody, please answer.

Similary we have seen HAL drilling holes manually on Tejas wings and used to take 5 to 6 days for 1 hole as per reports. Now L& T with innovation technique drills holes on the wing and takes 1 min for each hole.This is the difference between Public and private companies. same way even though we spent and give more money to Private companies we will get results unlike Public sectors who didnt even make an engine perfectly for last 30 to 35 years ie Kaveri engine. First lets give a chance and funding to Private companies to prove themselves unlike GTRE who wasted so much tax payers money. We didnt ven give them a chance to prove and you are questioning the Private companies

 

[Bhartiya]

Should PMO focus & GTRE to develop plane for testing of Engine? Which will save Time and Money. Which is wasted due dependency on foreign countries!!!

 

[abhinav srivastava]

Whoever questions the DRDO and says that this fund must go to a private organization, I only ask one simple question: DRDO made a 49kN dry thrust engine and a wet thrust of 81kN with only 500 million dollars. How much thrust jet engine made by any private companies in India? Now, the second question: If you have to fund, then whom will you fund? The organization that can make an 81kN engine or the company who can make a 2-4kN jet engine? Anybody, please answer.

Dry Kaveri is produced in limited numbers for testing. Reports of 49 kN achievement by Dry Kaveri are rays of hope. This happened with limited funding, a smaller budget, and inadequate testing infra. We must invest more in our jet engine development programs, both by government labs and private companies. We only tend to invest in jet engines when a foreign company does not offer them to us. This thinking must go.

Big, private Indian companies usually don't invest much in R&D. Only a few do that. Most of them believe in quarterly growth and not in futuristic tech development and growth. Also, when companies like Bharat Forge, SSS Defence, etc. develop good products, our forces prefer imports. This is a big dampener.

We must have a program to develop confidence among private companies that R&D and development of bleeding-edge tech will be rewarded disproportionately. We must have a program for private companies to develop smaller kN engines first. These can be used for trainer jets, smaller aircraft, drones, etc. The government should make testing infrastructure available to government labs and private companies. Also, it should make it easy for companies to get civilian certification for the engines they develop.

Have more partnership programs, like the one between CVRDE and Ashok Leyland for a 600 hp engine. Once private companies also start developing jet engines, a more talented pool will be available, and production of associated metals and electronics will flourish.

 

[Abs29]

How much funding did they get for kaveri?

Just about $326 million, they would have received more had they successfully reached the project milestones and closed them. But alas they didnt. The rest is history

 

[kumar]

Just about $326 million, they would have received more had they successfully reached the project milestones and closed them. But alas they didnt. The rest is history

And what are the successful milestones you are talking about? Do enlighten. How are they supposed to reach that milestone?