India US Jet Deal

Subject : Science and technology

Section: Defence

Concept :

The deal is anticipated to be announced between the American multinational corporation General Electric (GE) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the manufacture.
The decal will provide a licence in India for GE’s F414 engine for the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk2.
The deal was a key highlight of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s meeting with his American counterpart Jake Sullivan in February.
In this meeting, the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (CET) was operationalised.

The GE-414 engine

The turbofan engine is a part of GE’s suite of military aircraft engines and it has been in use by the US Navy for more than 30 years.

Features

Full Authority Digital Electronic Control (FADEC): It is the latest aircraft ignition and engine control system that controls engine performance digitally.
Advanced materials and cooling techniques: It finds a usage of advanced materials and cooling techniques to improve performance and extend component life.

What are F414-powered jets?

Currently Eight nations have F414-powered aircraft in operation or on order.
F414-GE-400 engines power the US Navy’s Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA18G Growler electronic attack aircraft.
Saab’s Gripen E/F fighters use the F414G, the single-engine variant of the F414-GE-400.
F414 engines can also power emerging platforms such as the Korean KF-X.

Engine version for Indian aircraft

For the LCA Tejas Mk2, The India-specific version of the engine, F414-INS6, was selected by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) of the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO).
The LCA Tejas is currently powered by a single GE-f 404-IN20 engine.
The basic design of The GE-404 engine has been replicated in the F414 and the latter was developed in the 1970s.

Competitors of Engines of Indian Aircrats

F414 engines may also be used to power the prototypes and the initial batch of the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) which are India’s futuristic fifth generation fighter aircraft for our Air Force.
However, AMCA might be the possible recipient of the engine, but other jet engine makers such as Safran SA of France and Rolls-Royce of the United Kingdom, are its competitors.
Safran and HAL have co-developed the Shakti engine for the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv and Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) Prachand.

India’s pursuit of indigenous aero-engines

India’s pursuit of indigenous aero-engines started in the 1960s with the HF-24 Marut fighter jet, which had limits since it lacked a suitable engine. Historical Efforts: India’s pursuit of indigenous aero-engines has a long history.

Kaveri Programme:

Launched in 1986, the Kaveri programme sought to create a homegrown military gas turbine engine for the LCA project. It cost a lot of money, yet it was unable to achieve the required technical standards.
Interim Measure: India chose American GE-F404 engines for the LCA Tejas Mark-1 as a temporary fix.

LCA Tejas

The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme was started by the Government of India in 1984 when they established the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) to manage the LCA programme.
It replaced the ageing Mig 21 fighter planes.
Designed by: Aeronautical Development Agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development.
Manufactured by: State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Features:

The lightest, smallest and tailless multi-role supersonic fighter aircraft in its class.
Designed to carry a range of air-to-air, air-to-surface, precision-guided, weapons.
Air to air refuelling capability.
Maximum payload capacity of 4000 kg.
It can attend the maximum speed of Mach 1.8.
The range of the aircraft is 3,000km

Variants of Tejas:

Tejas Trainer: 2-seater operational conversion trainer for training air force pilots.
LCA Navy: Twin- and single-seat carrier-capable for the Indian Navy.
LCA Tejas Navy MK2: This is phase 2 of the LCA Navy variant.
LCA Tejas Mk-1A: This is an improvement over the LCA Tejas Mk1 with a higher thrust engine.