India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd has started work on its most ambitious engine project till date to develop an indigenous Hindustan Turbo-Shaft Engine (HTSE) 1200 ( 1,200 KW) to power host of Helicopters currently manufactured by the company . Putting its past Research and Development (R&D) and experience of jointly developing “Shakti engine” with its French partner Turbomeca at presently used on HAL Dhruv , HAL Rudra, HAL Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and upcoming HAL Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) last October , HAL announced plans to pursue development of new Helicopter engine to reduce India’s existing gaps and dependence on foreign companies . HTSE 1200 will have single engine variant has well as Twin engine variant developing 1,200 KW of power . HAL plans to use single engine variant to power it’s 3.5-tonne Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) helicopter programme for which Tri-service command of Indian Military have combined requirement of more than 600 Helicopters and with eye on prospective export market HAL is betting big on indigenous Rotor engine to stay competitive in international military and civilian export market. Twin engined variant of HTSE 1200 will be used to power 5 to 8-tonne Helicopters like Dhruv , Rudra, Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) which currently is powered by Twin engined Shakti turboshafts generating 1,032 kW each. But defence analyst Ranesh Rajan is wary of HAL claims and points towards a recent statement made by HAL Chairman where he claims that “The HTSE-1200 will weigh around 450 kg and will produce a thrust of 1,200 KW at sea level and can operate up to an altitude 7 km. Rajan says the 450kg weight of the engine might be an error on his part but if it indeed 450kg then it’s much heavier than HAL/Turbomeca Shakti engines used in HAL’s ALH which reportedly has a dry weight of just 205kgs . But Media reported weight of HTSE-1200 might be over-reported but clarification on this part by HAL is need of the hour since overweight engine on helicopters hits its flight performance and its payload carrying capacity but HAL’s first attempt to develop 1200-kW-class engine could be potent product, but it depends if HAL is able to develop modern engine acceptable by service and can hit production in few years down the line but since India is nowhere at world stage in development of Aeronautics engines such attempts should be encouraged and backed by Government since if this engine is successful it can help HAL capture a large slice of the market .
