On 7 October, a team from DRDO met with the UK-based Rolls Royce to discuss the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) Engine.
Under this joint venture the Intellectual Property Right (IPR) will be retained by India for High Thrust Low bypass engine (110kn+).
In 2021, Rolls-Royce in India said it was interested in collaborating with India to co-develop and produce engines for India’s AMCA fifth-generation fighter aircraft project.
It has been reported in Financial Express Online that in 2017 both India and the UK had agreed to cooperate in the development of advanced defence projects and this also included the gas turbine engine and air defence missile systems. And, as reported in Financial Express Online, there is a collaborative project Defence Research and Development Organisation and the British engine maker Rolls Royce on jet engine technology.
According to reports Kishore Jayaraman, president of Rolls-Royce India and South Asia, has said that if a partnership is formed, the Indian government will hold the Intellectual Property (IP) rights for the engines.
According to company officials, Rolls-Royce feels it can be an effective partner for AMCA’s engine manufacturing in India. This area represents the future – to co-develop, co-manufacture, and co-create. And it is consistent with India’s indigenous design and manufacturing drive and the Atmanirbhar way.
For the Rafale fighters, Rolls Royce has offered a Eurojet EJ200 version with 110-120KN thrust. The SAFRAN-DRDO joint venture is planned with complete ToT and is based on the M88 engine base type.
On the other hand the United States’ interest in the fighter engine programme has lately been rekindled. Due to American reluctance to share core or hot engine technology, the India-US Defense Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) collaboration on jet engine technology was postponed in October 2019. Within the DTTI framework, a joint working group on jet engine technology was subsequently disbanded. However, in the first development phase of the AMCA project, a commercially available GE-414 engine will be purchased and installed.
There is no agreement yet in place between DRDO and RR, since the NGFA 110kn+ is not expected to begin development until 2030. Depending on the final cost of the engine project, a joint IP is also considered in addition to an Indian-only IP.
Approximately 250 GE-404 84KN engines are required to power the LCA Mk1/1A. India has ordered only half of the requirement from GE. The GE-414’s other two opponents are the Rolls Royce EJ 200 engine and the Safran M-88 – 4 engine.
