Reuters: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
NEW DELHI, Oct 17 – India expects to spend about 654 billion rupees ($7.44 billion) to buy engines for fighter aircraft that are under development until 2035, according to estimates shared on Friday by a defence official who leads the efforts to build a home-grown engine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The country will require about 1,100 engines for a variety of fighter jet programmes that are progressing through various stages, said S. V. Ramana Murthy, director of India’s Gas Turbine Research Establishment, a state-run defence laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India’s decades-old programme to power its light combat Tejas jets<\/a> with home-grown Kaveri engine has yet to take off due to technical shortcomings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “There is a need to work on mission mode to create an ecosystem for indigenous fighter engine,” Murthy said at an event in New Delhi, adding that the country needed infrastructure such as a high-altitude testing facility, along with an industrial base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also said that a derivative of the Kaveri engine can be used for a home-grown unmanned combat aerial vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Murthy is heading the efforts to co-develop an engine with an international partner to power India’s first 5th generation stealth fighter aircraft<\/a>, for which France’s Safran (SAF.PA), opens new tab<\/a>, Britain’s Rolls-Royce (RR.L), opens new tab<\/a> and U.S. General Electric (GE.N), opens new tab<\/a> have shown interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A prototype of the fighter, known as the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, is expected to roll out in 2028, Indian officials have previously said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is the first fighter aircraft for which bids would also be open to private firms, the government has said, in order to reduce pressure<\/a> on Indian state-owned warplane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HIAE.NS), opens new tab<\/a>, which makes most of India’s military aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n