Kaveri Engine

NEW DELHI: Premier defence research agency DRDO plans to commence flight trials for technology demonstration of Kaveri Engine with the Light Combat Aircraft in about three years time, government told the Lok Sabha today.

In a written reply to the House, Defence Minister A K Antony said that "DRDO has not fixed any time frame to fully develop the Kaveri Aero Engine for the LCA, Tejas.... It is planned to commence flight trials for technology demonstration of Kaveri Engine with LCA Tejas Mk-I in about three years' time."

He was asked whether DRDO has fixed any timeframe to fully develop the Kaveri aero engine for the LCA.

"LCA Tejas requires 90 kN thrust class engine to meet its operational requirement, whereas Kaveri engine does not fully meet this requirement. It has been decided to use variants of Kaveri Engine to power Unmanned Air Vehicle and also for marine applications," Antony said.

Replying to a question on the monetary allocations made to the DRDO in last three years, the Minister tabled a report of the money provided to it under various heads.

Since 2009-10 till 2011-12, government's budgetary estimate for the DRDO was Rs 28,543.43. The revised estimate for the same period was Rs 28,888.55 crore.

The actual expenditure incurred by the organisation since 2009 till 2011-72 has been Rs 28,485.40 crore.

In reply to a question on delivery of equipment by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said that the "government has taken cognisance of the complaints of IAF regarding delayed delivery of equipment by HAL."

There have been delays in some projects due to rework of the Jigs supplied by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in respect of Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers (AJT), the Minister said.

"Delays were also noticed in establishing the facilities for complex engine components and radar software in respect of SU-30 MKI aircraft and certification of Shakti engine by the OEM in respect of Advance Light Helicopters (ALH)," Raju said.

Changes in Standard of Preparation (SOP) for the LCA and delay in engine development by the OEM in respect of Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) also caused further time lags in these projects, he said.

Technology demonstration of Kaveri Engine with Light Combat Aircraft in 3 years: A K Antony - The Economic Times

if it cant meet the requirement then why try it with lca at first place

More bad news for Kaveri....
Outlook bleak for India’s Kaveri jet engine
More @ Outlook bleak for India’s Kaveri jet engine

this project is dropped.

DRDO says its Kaveri engine can power combat drones, warships and possibly trains

DRDO says its Kaveri engine can power combat drones, warships and possibly trains - Times Of India

now those trains will be transformed to Jet trains..........

India Scraps Domestic Jet Engine Plan

India Scraps Domestic Jet Engine Plan | Defense News | defensenews.com

NEW DELHI — India has abandoned its efforts to build its own engine to power the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mark-2, according to Indian Defence Ministry sources.

The Kaveri engine, which Indian defense scientists are trying to build, has failed to meet Indian Air Force requirements two decades after the project began, the MoD sources said.

This means the LCA Mark-2 will be powered only by U.S. company General Electric’s GE-414 engine, which was short-listed earlier over Germany’s Eurojet to power the LCA Mark-2. The aircraft, under development at Bangalore’s Aeronautical Development Agency, is expected to be ready around 2017.

While an MoD official would not say that the engine project has been abandoned for the aircraft, he did say that the Kaveri engine does not fully meet the Air Force’s thrust requirements. The MoD has now decided to use the Kaveri engine to power only UAVs, the official added.

India’s Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), the agency that is building the Kaveri, had been in consultation with French company Snecma for the past three years to help complete the engine.

DRDO and Snecma had been negotiating to co-develop and co-produce the engine, but they have yet to sign an agreement, the MoD official said.

While the official would not say why the negotiations failed, an Indian Air Force source said the Kaveri project to power the LCA has been all but abandoned. Beyond powering UAVs, the engine also will be a technology demonstration project.

The Air Force source added that besides the failure to meet the thrust level, the Kaveri also has technical problems with its compressor, turbine and engine control system.

Meanwhile, the LCA Mark-1 is readying for induction by 2014, nearly 15 years behind schedule. It will be powered by the GE-404 engine, also from General Electric.

For the LCA Mark-2 program, ADA will order 99 GE-414 engines and the rest will be manufactured in India under technology transfer arrangements.

^^ It only means Kaveri will not power LCA, i don't think they've dropped the project altogether. Also i had heard Snecma entered into fray in Kaveri development.

Kaveri requires more time foe development and LCA mk2 is too important to be delayed for indigenous engine development.

The actually didn't mention Snecma participation in the article..

We know there are talks on collaboration and pending sign about the agreement, till then Kavari will use as engines for Ships..

The Snecma deal is being used as leverage in the Rafale negotiations so that won't be signed until the MRCA deal is about closed.

AMCA is playing truant here. IAF is looking for a much newer engine rather than the so called 5th gen ECO core.

There is a high chance for the engine deal to conclude faster than MRCA.

IAF is looking for new engines they can co-produce to meet thrust requirements. That is ECO core. Russian 5th gen engines won't fit the class of fighters smaller more efficient/reliable Snecma engines make that GoI is looking at.

IAF seems to want a new core in a JV with Snecma and not the ECO core for AMCA from the most recent article we can find on AMCA.

I am not talking about Russian engines. Btw, they are going for 6th gen engines now, with materials that can withstand very close to 2100K temperatures on the Type 30. The GTRE-Snecma JV will be expected at the same level considering the AMCA will be a later development as compared to PAKFA.

Comparatively, the current M88-2/4E, AL-31F, F-100 are 4th gen engines. The M88-3, F-119(F-22's engine), EJ-200 and 117 are 5th gen engines.

Type 30 is planned to be a sixth gen engine. I think the F-135(F-35) fits the description but the engine cannot supercruise.

This may slightly delay the deal.

IAF wants ECO core so they can engine late batch Rafales and rengine early batch during MLU, not to mention power LCA and AMCA. Commonality is the goal and always been the focus. Having a common domestic engine for three platforms will save billions and thousands of hours.

You can't lump the latest economy M88 to a gaz guzzling, high fod, low TBO AL-31F. The technologies are a generation apart and the technology of the M88-3 is the same tech in the M88-ECO, just higher temp resistance. One is more fuel efficient with higher TBO times while the other provides higher thrust.

There is more to an engine than just the thrust it puts out. Russia has yet to fix the other elements that make an engine 'SOTA.'

There are only 4 countries that have the technology for this - US, France, UK, Russia.
Even the Russians are falling behind.

It's good that India has put this project. at least now the major projects and acquisitions can go on.

Even the Brazilians and Canadians and Sweden who are all much further along than India in both commercial and military aviation have not contemplated making their own engines.