With the latest squandering of GE’s clear, early-mover advantage in India’s ambitious & indigenous fighter jet programs with the American engine maker almost trying to leverage its monopolistic position; the battle of engines & the war of engine powerhouses in the Indian aviation theatre is almost wide-open now creating a level playing field for the European engine manufacturers, namely, Rolls Royce & Safran.
With the latest squandering of GE’s clear, early-mover advantage in India’s ambitious & indigenous fighter jet programs with the American engine maker almost trying to leverage its monopolistic position; the battle of engines & the war of engine powerhouses in the Indian aviation theatre is almost wide-open now creating a level playing field for the European engine manufacturers, namely, Rolls Royce & Safran.
Amid recent talks of GE trying to deny the F414 to India indirectly for the AMCA Mk1 program with an unexpected & abrupt price revision; India is actively searching for alternate pathways to power its indigenous, 5th generation stealth fighter program, the AMCA, and both its variants, namely, the Mk1 & the subsequent Mk2 variant.
European engine OEMs, namely, Safran and Rolls Royce, are the obvious answers here, one of whom is also ultimately going to be India’s strategic partner in the co-development of a 120 kN engine for the AMCA Mk 2 going forward. Considering Rolls Royce, the EJ200 engine would be the prime candidate for a potential propulsion solution for the Mk1 which competes directly with the M88 T-REX from Snecma, Safran.
However, both the engines peak out, in terms of thrust output, at 90+ kN currently, with further higher thrust variants & technology roadmap readily available to make them match the 98 kN thrust rating of the GE’s F414, as India will have to go with a production ready engine to reduce delays which are invariably likely to be caused by the adjustments required for redesigning of the AMCA Mk1 around an entirely new engine, if that becomes the reality ultimately.
However, the upside of redesigning the AMCA around a new engine would be the possibility of transitioning from the existing procurement & license-production model with GE for the F414 to a potential full ToT and local production of the selected European engine, almost as an extension (while also using it as a leverage) of the 120 kN engine agreement currently being negotiated for powering the AMCA Mk2.
The Battle of the Engines: EJ200 vs. M88 T-REX
The EJ 200, which powers the Eurofighter Typhoon program, has been developed & produced by the Eurojet Turbo GMbH, a consortium of European engine powerhouses, namely, the British Rolls Royce, Germany’s MTU, Italy’s Avio Aero and Spain’s ITP. The M88’s T-REX variant, however, has been developed independently by Safran for the upcoming F5 variant of the French Rafale program.The EJ200 is well-recognized and almost renowned for being a highly compact engine, being a twin-spool design featuring an advanced 3-stage fan with relatively fewer compressor stages, namely, a 5-stage compressor, giving it a rapid throttle response, high reliability and a highly responsive FADEC, besides the ability to support supercruise (much like the M88) besides a high overall thrust-to-weight ratio, high reliability and a decent fuel consumption.
However, being a joint program, the EJ 200, much like the Eurofighter Typhoon program itself, which it powers; has been plagued by the bureaucratic decision-making delays & procrastination over upgrades historically, with even decisions over the technological evolutionary trajectories having been relatively much slower, than the M88 and the Rafale program. They have been impacted significantly by the lengthy bureaucratic decision-making processes among the original member & partner nations with recurrent issues over workshare arrangements besides existence of considerable differences in respective hardware variants among the member nations.
For instance, the CAPTOR-E AESA radar; available on the Eurofighter Typhoon, itself has been developed jointly by 3 European companies, namely, Italy’s Leonardo, Germany’s Hensoldt and Spain’s Indra; and has been produced in 3 different variants for different customers. The ECRS Mk0 has been produced for export customers, like Kuwait & Qatar, while the ECRS Mk1 variant was developed for the German & Spanish Typhoon fleets. Lastly, the ECRS Mk2 variant, the most advanced one featuring an EW suite, has been developed for the British fleet.
The M88, on the contrary, is the lighter & more compact of the two engines, while also featuring internal cooling channels
to reduce its overall infrared signature besides giving it a better thermal resistance, while also being easier to maintain in the field.
The M88, however, seemingly, may have a clear leg-up in this competition from an Indian strategic context, perspective & viewpoint; as it already powers the IAF’s Rafale fleet, with the service already well-versed with its performance capabilities, reliability as well as maintainability aspects and the local MRO footprint for it, too, already existing within India which can easily be leveraged later to sustain it on the AMCA Mk1 as well as the 120 kN engine to be co-developed for the Mk2.
Further, India’s positive French geopolitical connection (which comes with a highly valued geopolitical autonomy) goes back over decades, with the IAF having successfully operated the Dassault’s Mirage-2000 jets since the 1980s, with the latest Rafale acquisition only adding to that saga and the engine selection & co-development likely to take it even further ahead.
Also, if India goes with the M88’s higher-thrust T-REX variant, it could, in future, potentially even be retrofitted into the IAF’s existing Rafale fleet (and the Indian Navy’s upcoming Rafale-M fleet), as part of their mid-life engine upgrades, in future, to effectively support the higher power requirement to support the integration of more advanced sensors, avionics & radars later as the T-REX variant retains the exact same physical dimensions of the original M88, besides maintaining the same engine weight of around 900kg.
The almost 20% higher thrust on the T-REX variant has, in fact, been derived from a redesigned low-pressure compressor aided by greater airflow besides the incorporation of a revised high-pressure turbine featuring next-generation cooling mechanism & usage of advanced materials for enhanced thermal management as well as a much higher, overall thermal efficiency, in addition, to the integration of an advanced, aerodynamically optimized nozzle.
Lastly, Safran is also likely to be contracted for the development of the adaptive engine technology for France’s upcoming, sixth generation fighter program, which, after the scrapping of the FCAS; is likely to be produced solely by Dassault as the prime contractor, and India is keenly looking at it for a potential foray as a strategic partner after Germany’s recent exit. Safran also plans to incorporate & retrofit key technology upgrades & elements, to be derived from the under development adaptive cycle engine, into the further advanced variants of the M88 for existing Rafale jets being operated by the French defense forces.
India, thus, could potentially also gain access to these critical upgrades by going with the M88 T-REX for AMCA Mk1 or the 120 kN engine to be co-developed for the AMCA Mk2, while it may not be the case for the EJ 200 for Mk1 but surely for the Mk2, as the EJ200 is a pan-European program and not exclusively owned by Rolls Royce, which, however, too, is developing the VCE technology for the sixth-generation GCAP program being pursued jointly by the U.S., Italy and Japan currently.
Thus, picking the M88 T-REX engine for the Mk1 may be relatively more advantageous for India over the long run from a strategic perspective as well as standpoint. However, the Eurojet consortium, too, has been carefully scripting the upgrade plan for the EJ200 over the years with the development of a thrust-vectoring nozzle (TVN) in the works, which could potentially give the airframe as well as the program sporting it, a definite edge by providing extreme maneuverability for aerial dogfights, which the M88 T-REX variant simply does not have or may not be able to provide even in the coming future.
The final decision, thus, ultimately should & will rest upon, and can only be made based on a comprehensive & thorough evaluations and comparisons of the respective, overall value propositions of the two competing engine & technology offers from the respective engine powerhouses on a technical, economic and strategic viewpoints.
However, GE, for sure, is going to be the sole & sore loser out here ultimately, in the high-stakes & high octane aerial dogfights in the Indian military aviation theatre over multiple military aviation programs worth multi-billion dollars in engines, technology licensing fees, sustainment & upgrades over the long term, unlike its European peers, competitors & counterparts...
