No Alternate Engine Available for Tejas Mk1A as Kaveri Engine Still Facing Delays

India's ambitious Tejas Mk1A program is facing potential setbacks due to the ongoing delays in the supply of F404 engines from GE Aerospace. These delays, stemming from supply chain constraints, are predicted to push back the delivery of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) by 10-12 months.

A critical concern lies in the lack of a readily available alternative engine for the Tejas Mk1A. The aircraft was specifically designed around the F404 engine, and other options are either not feasible or years away from being ready. India's indigenous Kaveri engine, though promising, faces its own set of delays and won't be production-ready for another 5-6 years. Meanwhile, the RD-33 engine, once considered a fallback option, is no longer viable.

Despite the engine supply hiccups, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will continue manufacturing the Tejas Mk1A at its current pace. This strategy aims to ensure the jets are ready for immediate delivery once the F404 engines become available again. GE Aerospace has stated it is working with HAL to address the supply chain bottlenecks and has set a target of September 2024 for resuming engine deliveries.

These delays are likely to have a cascading effect on the Indian Air Force's (IAF) plans for inducting the Tejas Mk1A. The IAF is actively looking to expand its fighter squadrons, and the Tejas Mk1A plays a crucial role in this strategic plan. Any delay in the aircraft's delivery could potentially impact the IAF's operational preparedness.

 

[Anurag]

Another bungling by HAL. MK1a was HAL's baby & they decided to use an engine variant which had closed its line of producion. GOI should seriously restructure HAL so that it will run efficiently. Moreover only people with merit should be recruited by HAL (& to any other DPSUs) & a management which understands the commercial aspect of timely delivery & wise decision making. The management should not be from the military & recruited purely on the basis of capability of the candidate.

That's factual wrong info on this part!! Hal never selected Ge engines and it's not their part to have a say in this while it's true that IAF also not wanted Ge engines, IAF preferred for the EJ2000 engines but Ge won the tender by L1 from the gov so no one's fault here and about closure of line of this particular engine when hal placed orders at that time if Ge clears that they will not able to provide engine within this time period then it is understandable but they choose silently accept the order!!
Ge has to deliver the engine way back in Oct-Nov but deadline is missed!!!

 

[NSR]

Then we have to select Euro-Fighter in MRFA to sweeten the Engine Deal

Perhaps but I am not sure of Euro-Fighter performance at all.
Gotta look at it.
It is not selling like Rafale though.

I wish France/Dassault will at least setup a assembly and maintenance and upgrade company with a private company like TATA or Mahindra for its 26 Rafale-M and possibly additional 36 or 54 Rafales so that they can be delivered quickly.

 

[Anurag]

Btw, Engine was selected by IAF and the deal is G2G through FMS. HAL is responsible, but it’s really not their cup of tea. MoD and MoF should have pulled their weight about 10 months ago when GE failed to meet the delivery date and again missed the revised delivery date. Let’s see what happens in Sep.

Testing time for Indo-US defence cooperation. Alignment of interests with US is never gonna be easy as they’d always have some issue somewhere and India’s interest may be completely opposite. Unfortunately in this case we can’t oblige US on Ukraine. Russia is not Iran.

unfortunately our babus and IAF stopped funding for Kaveri some 15 years back. Tragic and short sighted. Not that Kaveri was ever funded properly, but even the paltry sum stopped too. Some 300m in today’s value was all that invested. Let’s see if our babus and IAF wakes up.

Engine didn't selected by the IAF, Ge won the tender on the basis of L1 supplier!! IAF preferrence choice was EJ2000 engine at that time!!
USA is always unreliable partner for India due to few reasons that India was never a vessel state for the USA!!
Kaveri program surely deserve more funds and priority!!

 

[Sivasabaapathi Palanisamy]

thoguh the defaulter is GE American chamchas here are ready to jump on HAL.

 

[Amit]

It is true that US as a friend is more dangerous than your worst enemy...US or any company from the US cannot be trusted for defence specially if democrats are in power

 

[SK]

This is an unfortunate delay but It's better to be patient as Tejas-Program holds the potential to given a generational developmet to Indian Aerospace Industry.

 

[Arz786]

Another bungling by HAL. MK1a was HAL's baby & they decided to use an engine variant which had closed its line of producion. GOI should seriously restructure HAL so that it will run efficiently. Moreover only people with merit should be recruited by HAL (& to any other DPSUs) & a management which understands the commercial aspect of timely delivery & wise decision making. The management should not be from the military & recruited purely on the basis of capability of the candidate.

This habit of HAL choosing systems that are about to end production is not new. Typically HAL thought process is (1) the foreign vendor is just bluffing to extract a better price, (2) if there is a large order, the foreign supplier will resume production , (3) switching to another sub system involves a degree of uncertainty. While this may be true sometimes of smaller suppliers, in case of large established vendors, HAL needs to be more prudent.

 

[Swapy]

Can't believe USA cannot delivered engine on time. It might be strategy of USA to delay Tejas MK1A program so that IAF will get another reason for not purchase another 97 Tejas aircrafts. GE404 engines are using in many fighter jet including FA50 of SK. Just think about if in future USA sanction on India and stop supplying spare parts and engines. Then whole Tejas variant ecosystem will be destroy and our whole fleet of Tejas jet will be grounded. Never trust USA and we should look elsewhere. French Engines are costly and Russians engine are complete reliable in performance. Better invest max money in R&D and Technology purchase and we should make own Kaveri engine as fast as possible.

 

[wallisk]

Fake experts are blocking RD33 engines options. They blocked french M88 also. They have succesfully blocked The progress of integrating mig29 RD33 since 20+ years when Tejas took its first flight. They could have started a separate program and keep a demonstrator ready. It doesnot matter Tejas with RD33 be produced or not. It could have been a integration demonstrator. HAL makes both Tejas and RD33. Its just an integration. But alas, the agents are so deep rooted and blocked it.

proposition to Indian govt. Decission is not complicated. If DRDO engineers fails to qualify kaveri and America asks Indians to sell kidneys for GE engines, then cancel Tejas and order more SU30MKI fighters. IAF will have more of the same (consolidate as 1 aircraft) and Su30 can replace all of the lower configuration fighters (mig29 to mig21 & jaguar). Demand 100% TOT, which Russia may agree. Upgrade but do not degrade like scavenging for mirage2000 fighters.

Announce AMCA will be based on SU30MKi engine too (AL31/41 which ever gets manufactured and available India now without causing any further delays).
Matter over. Ensure AMCA flies earlier than planned. Put all engineers to work on it as Tejas MK1A and MK2 stands cancelled. HAL production line will be busy with SU30 again till AMCA is ready to roll out

"Sea Wasp" RD33 MK OVT 88KN max. wet thrusts engines is the best and was always the best engines option for Tejas... IAF demanded a Russian parts free LCA wayyyy back in 1990's...
idoit-immature-fake-armchair-experts here will make imbecile nonsensical reasons as to why engine cannot be changed for Tejas!

See how very quickly CCP-Chengdu redesigned the J10C to integrate Russian engines and now, they have again replaced with WS15 TVC nozzles engines made in China. They went thru' 3 different engine makes and re-designs of J10 engine bay fuselage changes and this jet is now super deadly!

 

[Swapy]

Many times people blame HAL for not delivering product/Jet on time but they don't know HAL is only integrator of Tejas component. Many component manufacturing has outsourced to private companies. If any of them delay the supply then final product will also get delay. This article mentioned one of the reason of delay in program. Frequent changes in requirement is another reason. I am not saying HAL is perfect in timeline but there are many reasons and we should not blame only to HAL. Atleast for now no private company is coming forward to invest in fighter jet program. AMCA is good example of this.

 

[Swapy]

Another bungling by HAL. MK1a was HAL's baby & they decided to use an engine variant which had closed its line of producion. GOI should seriously restructure HAL so that it will run efficiently. Moreover only people with merit should be recruited by HAL (& to any other DPSUs) & a management which understands the commercial aspect of timely delivery & wise decision making. The management should not be from the military & recruited purely on the basis of capability of the candidate.

SK FA50 jet getting same GE404 engine on time. From where this engine coming from any idea? recently KA50 got export orders too. you meant they have got this engines before giving orders?

 

[Sandeep]

India has no other option but to wait for GE to resume manufacturing it and supplying it to us.

India needs to make a deal that’s similar to the F414 engine. We should receive 80% of the technology and manufacture it in India with Indian content. India will have at least 200 Tejas MK1A jets in service and throughout their 30-40 year lifespan they will use at least 600-800 engines. This is a huge long term order and we should make a deal and manufacture the engines in India to avoid problems like this. We should also set up several MRO facilities in India that’s close to the border to reduce travel time and avoid delays in servicing them.

 

[R. Singh]

ADA/HAL should first ink deal with Rolls Royce to make 90KN engines here in India with 80% TOT with IP rights and then modify engine fuselage accordingly for upcoming 97 Tejas-1A order !

 

[Akshat]

HAL can Integrate Airframes But what about Engines.............??? GE should have started Ramping up production once they signed the deal in 2021 (Three years ago) Production is depended on Orders IAF wants another 97 Tejas MK1A. There is good Business For GE. Its up too GE how they deal it now. wait & see september 2024 deadline From Last 10 months they are Giving new deadlines add one more to that.Testing Time for Indo-US Defence partnership.a very hard Time India is passing Through.

Before blaming GE, why don't you ask where are the trainers themselves which should have been delivered a long way back? Where is the first Mk1A, for which engines are present? So engine is still not the critical bottleneck. HAL is.

 

[Akshat]

Another bungling by HAL. MK1a was HAL's baby & they decided to use an engine variant which had closed its line of producion. GOI should seriously restructure HAL so that it will run efficiently. Moreover only people with merit should be recruited by HAL (& to any other DPSUs) & a management which understands the commercial aspect of timely delivery & wise decision making. The management should not be from the military & recruited purely on the basis of capability of the candidate.

People recruited do have merit. Problem is the structure of the organization. Once they enter the organization, they have no incentive to work.

 

[Akshat]

Engine didn't selected by the IAF, Ge won the tender on the basis of L1 supplier!! IAF preferrence choice was EJ2000 engine at that time!!
USA is always unreliable partner for India due to few reasons that India was never a vessel state for the USA!!
Kaveri program surely deserve more funds and priority!!

You are talking about the engine for LCA Mk2.

For Tejas, MoD had sanctioned Kaveri engine. F404 was a place holder till the time Kaveri was ready. But when Kaveri was thrown out, the place holder became the main engine.

Kaveri program needs a new player now. Funds and priority should be given only after throwing GTRE out of the project.

 

[Akshat]

Btw, Engine was selected by IAF and the deal is G2G through FMS. HAL is responsible, but it’s really not their cup of tea. MoD and MoF should have pulled their weight about 10 months ago when GE failed to meet the delivery date and again missed the revised delivery date. Let’s see what happens in Sep.

Testing time for Indo-US defence cooperation. Alignment of interests with US is never gonna be easy as they’d always have some issue somewhere and India’s interest may be completely opposite. Unfortunately in this case we can’t oblige US on Ukraine. Russia is not Iran.

unfortunately our babus and IAF stopped funding for Kaveri some 15 years back. Tragic and short sighted. Not that Kaveri was ever funded properly, but even the paltry sum stopped too. Some 300m in today’s value was all that invested. Let’s see if our babus and IAF wakes up.

More lies. Kaveri was receiving funds at least till 2016. This is officially on record.

Like always, spreading lies and rumors to defend the inept and useless so-called-scientists of DRDO. Typical DRDO apologist.

 

[Akshat]

That's factual wrong info on this part!! Hal never selected Ge engines and it's not their part to have a say in this while it's true that IAF also not wanted Ge engines, IAF preferred for the EJ2000 engines but Ge won the tender by L1 from the gov so no one's fault here and about closure of line of this particular engine when hal placed orders at that time if Ge clears that they will not able to provide engine within this time period then it is understandable but they choose silently accept the order!!
Ge has to deliver the engine way back in Oct-Nov but deadline is missed!!!

Again, you are talking about F414 engines for LCA Mk2.

 

[Akshat]

74kn after burning kaveri engine is good enough for tejas as ge engines do not much better and 90 kn after burning Kaveri is good enough for AMCA.

Kaveri is the biggest dud ever. Doesn't work at all.

 

[sanket]

Perhaps but I am not sure of Euro-Fighter performance at all.
Gotta look at it.
It is not selling like Rafale though.

I wish France/Dassault will at least setup a assembly and maintenance and upgrade company with a private company like TATA or Mahindra for its 26 Rafale-M and possibly additional 36 or 54 Rafales so that they can be delivered quickly.

Last Time in MMRCA Euro-Fighter was Runner up ,Courtesy Rafale L1 Bidder Only Thing IAF may b hesitant is its is Manufactured by more than One Nation, sold more than Rafale almost 800 have been till date. Only Two Fighter have meet Parameters of Last MMRCA.