Analysis How a Mere $239 Million Budget Hobbled India's Four-Decade Kaveri Engine Program, While Global Peers Spent Billions

India's ambitious four-decade-long quest to develop a homegrown fighter jet engine, the Kaveri, was severely hampered by chronic underfunding, according to new details released by the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), a key laboratory under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The project, initiated in 1986 to power the nation's future fighter aircraft, has received a total of just $239 million over its entire lifespan. This figure stands in stark contrast to the multi-billion dollar investments that powered similar engine development programs across the world, sparking a debate on the financial commitment required for true self-reliance in critical defence technology.

A Stark Financial Disparity​

The financial gap between the Kaveri program and its international counterparts is immense. The GTRE revealed that the project's total funding is a small fraction of what other nations invested to develop their premier jet engines. For instance:

• The Pratt & Whitney F135, which powers the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter, was developed with a staggering budget of $6.7 billion.
• France’s Snecma M88, the engine for the Dassault Rafale, required approximately $1.6 billion for its development.
• The Eurojet EJ200, the powerplant for the Eurofighter Typhoon, was also backed by a similar $1.6 billion investment.
• Even in the 1980s, when the Kaveri project began, the General Electric F404 engine, used in the F/A-18 Hornet, received over $1 billion in funding.

This comparison highlights that the Kaveri was expected to achieve similar results with less than 15% of the budget allocated to its nearest competitors, a factor that significantly limited its ability to overcome complex technological challenges and meet performance benchmarks.

Technical Hurdles and Missed Opportunities​

The limited budget had a direct impact on the engine's development, leading to significant delays and technical shortfalls. The Kaveri program struggled to perfect critical components, including its high-performance compressor, advanced single-crystal turbine blades, and effective thermal management systems.

Initially intended to power the LCA Tejas, the engine could not achieve the required 81–90 kN (kilonewtons) of thrust, forcing India to select the American General Electric F404 engine for its indigenous fighter.

Officials at GTRE argue that the initial allocation was insufficient for a project of such complexity. They contend that with a budget on par with global standards—potentially in the range of $1 to $2 billion—the Kaveri could have been successfully developed to power not only the Tejas but also the next-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), greatly reducing India's dependence on foreign suppliers.

A Future in Unmanned Aviation​

Despite these significant setbacks, the technology developed under the Kaveri program has not been entirely abandoned. A derivative of the engine, a non-afterburning "dry" version, has shown considerable promise.

This engine, producing between 49 and 52 kN of thrust, is slated to power India's futuristic unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), the Ghatak.

This dry engine variant has successfully completed ground trials and is scheduled for high-altitude testing in Russia, indicating that the core design is viable.

However, GTRE officials emphasize that this recent success could have been achieved much earlier and on a larger scale with adequate and consistent financial backing.

The reliance on foreign collaboration, such as with France's Safran (formerly Snecma), to solve technical issues also extended the program's timeline due to budget constraints.

The journey of the Kaveri engine serves as a critical case study for India's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' initiative, illustrating that ambitious goals in defence research and development must be supported by robust and sustained financial investment to compete on a global stage.

 

Pakistan Pursues China's 400 km Range PL-17 A2A Missile after PL-15E Failure against India's Multi-Layered Air Defence Systems

Armed forces to merge education branches into a single Tri-Services Education Corps

[sanket]

Oh, apart from funding, it lacks testing facilities, which have impacted the R&D of the Kaveri engine. This is an eye-opener article for the fool, a cartoon joker, who spreads lies, and a tight slap on his face. Other global aero-giants not only have funding and test facilities but also have a strong industrial base as well as an ecosystem developed with tons of experience. Even then, GTRE at least developed a dry variant of the Kaveri engine successfully with peanuts of funds.

 

[Sandeep]

The failure of the Kaveri engine was not down to a lack of funds at all.

The main issues was that the staff lacked the appropriate people with knowledge, experience and skills in advanced science, engineering, poor metallurgy education, lack of advanced mathematicians along with poor manufacturing capabilities, lack of heavy machinery that was needed, poor supply chain issues and they lacked some raw materials that was needed etc.

At the same time GTRE only used government hired workers and they didn’t partner with any private sector companies. Also they didn’t hire outside key workers who had some foreign education, knowledge or experience after working abroad which could have helped them to succeed.

 

[emgee]

I think the lack of progress was also due to India's desire for perfection instead of 'good enough'. The first Chinese engines were of marginal quality, but they just kept on at it, improving year by year.

 

[आक्रोशित युवक]

The failure of the Kaveri engine was not down to a lack of funds at all.

The main issues was that the staff lacked the appropriate people with knowledge, experience and skills in advanced science, engineering, poor metallurgy education, lack of advanced mathematicians along with poor manufacturing capabilities, lack of heavy machinery that was needed, poor supply chain issues and they lacked some raw materials that was needed etc.

At the same time GTRE only used government hired workers and they didn’t partner with any private sector companies. Also they didn’t hire outside key workers who had some foreign education, knowledge or experience after working abroad which could have helped them to succeed.

Can't blame one factor. Kaveri's failure is a result of systematic issues that have plagued india for a long long time.

 

[Muthu.Kumar]

I see a systematic approach here in NOT nurturing and developing indigenous and homegrown technology, by not funding properly and not monitoring and scrutinizing appropriately.

Moreover, companies involved are all public sector ones which obviously has the red tapism and shitty politics within itself, whereas all its western counterparts quoted are corporate powerhouses. They all employ the top of the line engineers and scientists across the world. And how many IIT-ans or IISc-sns work in our DRDO, GTRE, HAL, ISRO etc ?

And comes the very crucial aspect. These kinds of high end and hi-tech projects can't be completed without the active participation from academia. For instance, Pratt & Whitney worked with a team of MIT engineers. It doesn't mean that P & W had a dearth of expertise. Did GTRE even initiate any such thing ?

Problem gentleman, is that, we terribly and soooo pathetically lack a strong long term vision, thinking at least 20 years ahead and aggressively work towards achieving that goal, either in the political circle or in the bureaucratic circle.

We have the best academia like IITs and IISc, exporting their best products to the West and begging the same West for technology. Guess India will be the one and only country that does such thing.

Result ? We're still riding on the shoulders of the West like an intellectualy paralyzed and handicapped and crippled and deprived and disabled and debilitated nation.

 

[Imaxxx]

The failure of the Kaveri engine was not down to a lack of funds at all.

The main issues was that the staff lacked the appropriate people with knowledge, experience and skills in advanced science, engineering, poor metallurgy education, lack of advanced mathematicians along with poor manufacturing capabilities, lack of heavy machinery that was needed, poor supply chain issues and they lacked some raw materials that was needed etc.

At the same time GTRE only used government hired workers and they didn’t partner with any private sector companies. Also they didn’t hire outside key workers who had some foreign education, knowledge or experience after working abroad which could have helped them to succeed.

That's 100% wrong. Kaveri program even today doesn't have adequate facilities for testing- this is 1 example in the public domain. We don't know what other facilities they lack.
All the reasons you mentioned are also due to lack of funding. If there were sufficient funds, all the reason you mentioned would have been managed and mitigated.

 

[Subhagar]

£239 million is much more than 1 billion or 1.5 billion of development cost undertaken by European companies considering the difference in purchasing power parity and technical fees and manpower charges of both the countries...The program was lost due to bureaucracy & political class inefficiency...this is with all PSU programs....