Opinion Tejas Mk1A and Mk2 Export Potential Shackled by US Engines, Funding Indigenous Kaveri 2.0 Needed for India's Global Ambitions

India's goal to become a major global defence exporter is facing a critical challenge, with its ambition to sell indigenous Tejas fighter jets being constrained by a reliance on foreign-made components.

Defence experts assert that for India to independently market its Tejas Mk1A and the upcoming Mk2 variants, the government must commit to fully funding the indigenous Kaveri 2.0 engine project.

This strategic investment is seen as essential to break free from the control of international suppliers, particularly the United States, whose American-made engines give it authority over where the Indian aircraft can be sold.

The Tejas Mk1A, a cornerstone of the Indian Air Force's modernisation plans, is currently equipped with the F404 engine from American company General Electric (GE). The more advanced Tejas Mk2 is planned to operate with the more powerful GE F414 engine.

This dependence on U.S. technology places the Tejas program under American export control laws, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

Consequently, the United States can restrict or veto the sale of these jets to potential international customers based on its own foreign policy and geopolitical interests.

This limitation significantly undermines India's strategic independence and its ability to tap into a growing international demand for affordable, high-performance fighter aircraft.

A homegrown solution, the Kaveri 2.0 engine, is being developed to address this vulnerability. This advanced engine, managed by the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), is being designed to provide the necessary power for both the Tejas Mk1A and Mk2 jets.

According to defence analysts, successfully integrating a domestically produced engine would be a game-changer, allowing India to pursue export opportunities without needing clearance from another nation.

Furthermore, offering an aircraft with a fully indigenous engine would greatly enhance its attractiveness to foreign buyers by demonstrating India's technological capabilities and offering more straightforward maintenance and support agreements.

The development of a domestic jet engine has been a long-standing national goal for India.

The original Kaveri engine program, which began in the 1980s, was unable to produce the required thrust and encountered technical difficulties, preventing its use in the Tejas fighters.

However, the revived Kaveri 2.0 project aims to succeed where its predecessor fell short, reportedly benefiting from technological advancements and potential collaboration with international partners like France's Safran.

Experts argue that decisive government funding is now the crucial element needed to accelerate development, complete rigorous testing, and clear the path for the engine's integration into the Tejas fleet, thereby strengthening India's entire aerospace industry.

The international market for lightweight multi-role combat aircraft is highly competitive, featuring jets such as South Korea’s KF-21 Boramae and Turkey’s Kaan.

The Tejas is positioned as a cost-effective and capable option for nations across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, with countries like Argentina, Egypt, and the Philippines having previously shown interest. However, the constraint of foreign-supplied engines remains a primary obstacle.

The call to prioritise and fund the Kaveri 2.0 is therefore not just a technical requirement but a strategic necessity for ensuring the Tejas can compete freely and establish India as a self-reliant and significant power in the global defence market.

 

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[AMCA446]

A

Post in thread 'India and US to Finalize F-414 Engine Co-Production Deal for Tejas Mk2 and AMCA by March 2026, Confirms HAL Chief as ToT Negotiations Concluded'

Thursday at 4:13 AM

He wants till March 2025 just to negotiate the deal with GE! Living in a world of their own, with no urgency or accountability. Besides there is no guarantee GE will deliver anything. The way things are going it is difficult to rely on US respecting its own word. Need for a better approach.

• AJS

• 

Findout here also in this link i.e. they want to wait another year and then with the right "मुहूर्त" will do engine deal "FINAL"_{ note that not starts producing engines from march 2026} just "FINAL".🧲Why GE is so magical for them that they cannot see other most advanced engine in the world who wants to transfer their technologies to India. I am talking about IHI-Xf9 engine from Japan here. Why HAL have to show its bonding only with USA. I cannot understand???
This is unbelievable.
This is notorious.
जय हिंद🇮🇳🚀🚀🚀

 

[sanket]

Kaveri work is already in progress. BrahMos Aerospace is taking on the afterburner section, and apart from funds, LSP Tejas has been allotted for further testing of the Kaveri engine. Flat-rated technology has already been developed. Most importantly, forget about export restrictions; GE should first aim to deliver GE-404 on time rather than delaying. Their first target is to fulfill the international contract which they have signed. By the time an additional 97 orders are placed, there will be enough time for fine-tuning and refinement of the Kaveri-2 engine with weight reduction and a desired thrust of 85 to 90 kN.

 

[bks78]

Kaveri work is already in progress. BrahMos Aerospace is taking on the afterburner section, and apart from funds, LSP Tejas has been allotted for further testing of the Kaveri engine. Flat-rated technology has already been developed. Most importantly, forget about export restrictions; GE should first aim to deliver GE-404 on time rather than delaying. Their first target is to fulfill the international contract which they have signed. By the time an additional 97 orders are placed, there will be enough time for fine-tuning and refinement of the Kaveri-2 engine with weight reduction and a desired thrust of 85 to 90 kN.

Bhai we have been hearing Brahmosh after burner for quite sometime. Is it just a rumor to get further funding of Kaveri? Even no updates of recent testing of this engine in Russia. Looks like again it got flopped and hence no updates.

 

[Dolund Trmup]

Make it on the M88 weight category.

 

[Foxbat]

For heaven's sake don't talk talk about export potential don't even think about it with the current pathetic situation the Indian defence industry's dilemma. Don't pass buck on GE engine prolonged and lack of funding for Kaveri engine project's progress.

In my observation since the Tejas early years after first flight I have noticed the initiatives, immediate planning for next follow up and a foresight on new development progress on next variants of Tejas was not there. It took too long to progress to Mk1A. It occurs to me the planning for further orders for GE Engines was late. By this time GE was facing critical supply chain issues with its suppliers which further messed up the transition to Mk1A by close to 1 and half years. The same is happening with the 80 percent ToT on F414 collaboration with GE. After signing the memorandum on joint development of Tejas Mk2 engines with Indian partner the deal is going to concluded in by March 2026, that is close to three years. On another front searching for an ideal partner to collaborate to jointly produce 120KN engine for AMCA is on search mode. The AMCA engine project should start in parallel with AMCA project. This would allow adequate time to make adjustments to be incorporated into AMCA. The joint collaboration engine for AMCA would take at least 5 years because it is totally a new technology engine and it involves highly very complex engineering techniques tailor made to AMCA's specifications with 120kN powered engines. The deal with a suitable foreign partner should be throughly studied and hasten the deal to get the project moving.

In any projects

 

[jazz]

Crowdfunding + Government funding... Private + DRDO + Academic Research and Development... Private Production (50%), Private + Government Production (30%), and Sole Government Production (20%). This could be tweaked as per requirement.

 

[Rinku Pandey]

Make it on the M88 weight category.

Make it similar to F404 and F414 dimensions, and M88 weight category.

 

[P10]

Kaveri 2.0 must be completely done by an Indian consortium with a target thrust of 60/90 kN and 1100 kg weight. GOI should part-fund it with a minimum 300+ order commitment.

Needless to say, private sector companies should be the majority of the consortium - Godrej, Bharat Forge, etc.

 

[Rinku Pandey]

Crowdfunding + Government funding... Private + DRDO + Academic Research and Development... Private Production (50%), Private + Government Production (30%), and Sole Government Production (20%). This could be tweaked as per requirement.

The government should treat this project of national importance, led by the PMO. Government employees and pensioners should be forced to give 10% of their basic pay and forgo DA/DR for 18 months, as the government did during Covid, which generated Rs 35,000 crore. Now, as per my calculations, if the government does the same, Rs 45,000 crore, or $5 billion, can be generated.

 

[Vishwanath Vijay Thomre]

First fill our own house then distribute to neighbors. HAL, DRDO, MoD and GOI has to come out of deep sleep and move beyond GE. Recently US has vetoed against sell of KF 1 fighter jets of Korea because they use GE414. The same will be case with India. Why the hell GOI and MoD are not supporting Kaveri engine development. We are really not working for game changing achievement of jet engines. Unless we become self reliant on jet engines will always face dangerous challenges for air defense.

 

[Vishwanath Vijay Thomre]

The government should treat this project of national importance, led by the PMO. Government employees and pensioners should be forced to give 10% of their basic pay and forgo DA/DR for 18 months, as the government did during Covid, which generated Rs 35,000 crore. Now, as per my calculations, if the government does the same, Rs 45,000 crore, or $5 billion, can be generated.

Just forget DRDO + GTRE we have given them enough time as this was launched in 1980's over 40 years that's huge time wasted and still wastage going on. This shows that they have lost all ideas and are not getting enough ideas and funds. We have a large pool of private Indian sectors just give them the project with 2 years time line to get the engine done with 90kN dry and 150kN + of AB thrust done based on the 100% ToT of existing Kaveri from GTRE to move further. Enough of nonsense we are taking only about jets but neglecting very desperately the jet engine. Basically our air defense front has lost and we are falling vulnerably behind the new air defense age.

 

[AMCA446]

Just forget DRDO + GTRE we have given them enough time as this was launched in 1980's over 40 years that's huge time wasted and still wastage going on. This shows that they have lost all ideas and are not getting enough ideas and funds. We have a large pool of private Indian sectors just give them the project with 2 years time line to get the engine done with 90kN dry and 150kN + of AB thrust done based on the 100% ToT of existing Kaveri from GTRE to move further. Enough of nonsense we are taking only about jets but neglecting very desperately the jet engine. Basically our air defense front has lost and we are falling vulnerably behind the new air defense age.

Why not IHI-Xf9 engine? Scalable solution for all our jets from Tejas mk2 to AMCA to 6th Gen elctric output requirements. It will finish this long decade discussion. Isn't it?
🇮🇳🚀🚀🚀

 

[Madan1]

Put the right people there under some able leader and get private participation. The public will be more than willing to fund Kaveri, but it must be ensured that their money is being put to good use and not being wasted. Keep out HAL and like-minded companies.

 

[Vishwanath Vijay Thomre]

Why not IHI-Xf9 engine? Scalable solution for all our jets from Tejas mk2 to AMCA to 6th Gen elctric output requirements. It will finish this long decade discussion. Isn't it?
🇮🇳🚀🚀🚀

Absolutely true my friend, but our focus is not at all shifting from Western countries who have always been the back stabber GE, Rafael, SAFRAN, US, France. Unfortunately XF9 happens to be the best bid but it is from Japan far east which we do not want to look at all, they will be a reliable partner even in this precarious situation we can fall back on our decade old Russia who will definitely help us. But we are still looking to Daddy Trump and his son NATO as we are in anticipation to get our US EU deals get done neglecting our National interest. Why so much of west reliance really do not understand. One day we will face serious consequences of this policy. But we can only write our concerns, views and cannot do anything further as the decision making power remains with GOI fully under pressure from Western allays. The neglect East approach is very well seen when Mr. Piyush Goel called ASEAN countries as China B team and not interested in doing trade.

 

[Sandeep]

If India is going to develop an indigenous engine then they will have to design and develop a clean sheet design. If the deal to manufacture the F414 engines in India with 80% of the technology transferred to us and manufactured with indigenous raw materials then it’s a good deal.

This will help us to develop our own indigenous engine development which we can use to replace the F414 and develop a better indigenous engine. We can also develop an alternative to the F404 but it will make more sense to use the indigenous F414 alternative which can give us a better performance if developed properly. We can replace the F404 with the F414 or indigenous alternative.

 

[murtyn459]

No doubt, the design and manufacture of turbojet engine is complicated. GTRE has already achieved a milestone by meeting the thrust of 49/50 Kn. It is the first step. With after burner from Brahmos it is all likely will meet GE 404 standard except for thrust weight ratio. GTRE should now concentrate on this issue and first see that GE404 is replaced. Parallelly, they may work for GE414 replacement with Kaveri 2.0.

 

[AMCA446]

GTRE and GE have "GE" common 😎 May be this pushed GTRE to acquire GE and now GE is subsidiary of GTRE. As whole world knows the Trump!!! Like Apple and others want to leave USA may be this will also a scret which will reveals later to public.🤣😂🤣🇮🇳🚀🚀🚀
Don't take it serious plz.

 

[Python]

Yes and that's exactly what defence minister also announced before. Hope it gets completed soon.

 

[defence director]

Export ambitions need to be on a standby , personal needs first export after. mig 21 needs to be replaced and we need almost 200 tejas . in an ideal condition 100 of those should be tejas mk2 (with better engine, bramhos induction , supercruise capability etc etc) and 100 should be mk1 but the mk2 variant isn't even out yet and we're talking about exports ?? . that's a distant dream right now .

 

[పవన్కుమార్]

If India is going to develop an indigenous engine then they will have to design and develop a clean sheet design. If the deal to manufacture the F414 engines in India with 80% of the technology transferred to us and manufactured with indigenous raw materials then it’s a good deal.

This will help us to develop our own indigenous engine development which we can use to replace the F414 and develop a better indigenous engine. We can also develop an alternative to the F404 but it will make more sense to use the indigenous F414 alternative which can give us a better performance if developed properly. We can replace the F404 with the F414 or indigenous alternative.

All these deals even have the capacity to hinder complete independence in jet engine tech, postponing it for a decade. So parallel co-development and independent development in jet engine is a must, which shall not be an obstacle to develop jet engine without any delay of freedom in jet engine tech for the next decade.

 

[P.K Senapati]

Kaveri with an afterburner that can generate 80+kN thrust will be suitable for the replacement of the GE F404 engine of Tejas Mk1A. After that, we must continue to improve the performance of the core engine by redesign and using advanced materials and processes like single-crystal turbine blades with thermal coating and reducing some weight. If Kaveri 2 can generate 90+kN thrust, it will be suitable for Tejas Mk2 and GE414 replacement. It will take some time, and until then, we can continue with the present arrangement.

 

[AMCA446]

Export ambitions need to be on a standby , personal needs first export after. mig 21 needs to be replaced and we need almost 200 tejas . in an ideal condition 100 of those should be tejas mk2 (with better engine, bramhos induction , supercruise capability etc etc) and 100 should be mk1 but the mk2 variant isn't even out yet and we're talking about exports ?? . that's a distant dream right now .

Supercruise???
Even f35 lightening of USA
and J20 of Chi a and SU30 MKI of India
And other Folder Falcons of USA doesn't have this Supercruise. So what makes you think that Tejas with GE engine can have it?????????
Ha Ha Ha😂

 

[pgahlot]

Don't talk about exporting, first kick out GE from all contracts and focus on Kaveri 2.0 and collab with RR for new engine ASAP.

 

[Muthukumar Ponnambalam]

Kaveri should be fully indigenously developed to be on par with the GE F-414.

Bring in the best and the brightest from academia like IITs, IISc, NITs etc., and have them work hand-in-glove with experts in the industry like GTRE and let them make Kaveri the Indian answer for its Western counterparts.

Enough piggybacking and riding on the shoulders of the West like an intellectually paralysed and handicapped nation.