We need to establish these test facilities for engine development.
- Twin test cell at GTRE
- High altitude test bench
- Flying testbed
You can get a used 747-8 at cheap rates for a flying testbed.
DRDO actually already acquired 100 acres of land at Telangana for High altitude test facility.
From 2016 standing committee report:
More on planned GTRE Rajanukunte test facility from 2016:
GTRE has planned to set up Full Engine Test Facilities for Aero Gas Turbine Engines and Component Test Facilities at Rajanakunte Campus, Bengaluru.
The following Component Test Facilities to test Gas Turbine Engines have been envisaged at Rajanukunte, Bengaluru.
GTRE has planned to set up Full Engine Test Facilities for Aero Gas Turbine Engines and Component Test Facilities at Rajanakunte Campus, Bengaluru.
The following Component Test Facilities to test Gas Turbine Engines have been envisaged at Rajanukunte, Bengaluru.
- Fan and Compressor test facility, combustor, Turbine and Afterburner test facility with thrust Vectoring Nozzle.
- Twin test cells for full scale engine testing along with Engine Assembly Hangar and Compressed air House.
- Small Engine Test Facility.
- Test facility to test Marine Gas Turbine Engines.
- Air supply facilities for test rigs, buildings, roads and other infrastructure has also been planned.
There are no used 747-8s available as of now and it is the newest and most expensive variant of the 747 family, I think you are confused with the 747-400….anyway IMO the last 747-400s left with Air India should be converted for the purpose of flying test bed like the former air India a319 “ Anusandhan” for testing sensors and avionics of the AMCA program.
Yes, I meant 747-400. There are so many available in the open market. Doesn't have to be AI.
Bharat forge/Kalyani are developing a number of small gas turbine engines. Currently there are 120 KgF, 160 KgF, 200 KgF, 300 KgF & 400 KgF small turbojet engines being built. Apparently they also want to build turboshaft engines for helos & power generation. All the engines will be made using 70-90% 3D printing.
The turboshaft engines are still far away. Most of their work now is focused on the turbojet engines. Unsurprisingly the most amount of progress is seen in the first & the smallest engine of the bunch, the 120 KgF turbojet. 120 KgF translates to ~ 1.18 KN of thrust and/or 220 KW of electrical power.
Kalyani has put out a Augmented Reality app to market the engine. Some snaps from the said app:
The 3 sections of the engine:
The engine has a reverse flow annular combustor. the advantage of using a reverse flow combustor is that it reduced the overall length of the engine. However it is only effective up to a certain thrust class. At this thrust class, a reverse flow combustor is a very good design choice.
Cut out of the engine when it is running:
The engine has been test fired multiple times & is nearing the completion of its development. Here are the other engines. You can see the 120, 160 & the 400 KgF engines here:
This is the 160KgF/1.57 KN engine:
The 160KgF engine has also probably been test fired. The poster below was released by the company. Notice the 160KgF engine secured on a test bench on the top right. Also blue flames from the 120KgF engine.
Very clean combustion:
And finally this is the 400 KgF/3.92 KN engine. This is the most powerful engine so far from Kalyani. For comparison, GTRE's Manik STFE produces 4.25 KN of thrust.
Interestingly, this engine uses a conventional straight flow combustor instead of a reverse flow combustor. We have not seen any prototype of Kalyani's 400KgF engine. All we have now are display models. Safe to say this engine is a few years away from bench testing. No display models of the 200 & 300 KgF engines have been seen so far. Wonder if they have been dropped.
The 400 KgF engine can be used for cruise missiles. Most modern anti-ship &/or land attack cruise missiles in the 300-600 km range use engines of this class. However this engine will face competition from the Manik STFE. The fact that Manik is more powerful & mature only darkens the prospect of this engine.
But the Kalyani 400KgF engine is more powerful than the 3.75 KN HAL PTAE-7 engine. The PTAE-7 was developed in the mid-80s & has been extensively used on target drones like Lakshya & Abhyas. The Navy's version of the upcoming CATS Warrior UCAV will be powered by 2 PTAE-7 engines.
Sooner or later the PTAE-7 will need to be replaced. There the 400KgF Kalyani engine maybe a very good replacement. The Kalyani's engine is likely to be smaller, lighter & more efficient than the PTAE-7.
If Kalyani is still working on their 200 & 300 KgF engines then there is competition coming up for that too. DRDO's RCI & NAL are collaborating to develop a small gas turbine jet engine for UAVs & missiles. the specs of the RCI/NAL engine are given below:
The 120 & 160 KgF engines will also be used in UAVs & missiles. There are no other Indian engines that can be a direct competition to these Kalyani engines yet. If these engines are used in air-launched subsonic cruise missiles we can have a range of ~500-600 km. For ground launched missiles the range will be 250-300 km at best.
In a few years we will have the entire gamut of turbojets in the 100-500 KgF class. That should be enough for most if not all of our UAV/UCAV & missile needs.
The turboshaft engines are still far away. Most of their work now is focused on the turbojet engines. Unsurprisingly the most amount of progress is seen in the first & the smallest engine of the bunch, the 120 KgF turbojet. 120 KgF translates to ~ 1.18 KN of thrust and/or 220 KW of electrical power.
Kalyani has put out a Augmented Reality app to market the engine. Some snaps from the said app:
The 3 sections of the engine:
The engine has a reverse flow annular combustor. the advantage of using a reverse flow combustor is that it reduced the overall length of the engine. However it is only effective up to a certain thrust class. At this thrust class, a reverse flow combustor is a very good design choice.
Cut out of the engine when it is running:
The engine has been test fired multiple times & is nearing the completion of its development. Here are the other engines. You can see the 120, 160 & the 400 KgF engines here:
This is the 160KgF/1.57 KN engine:
The 160KgF engine has also probably been test fired. The poster below was released by the company. Notice the 160KgF engine secured on a test bench on the top right. Also blue flames from the 120KgF engine.
Very clean combustion:And finally this is the 400 KgF/3.92 KN engine. This is the most powerful engine so far from Kalyani. For comparison, GTRE's Manik STFE produces 4.25 KN of thrust.
Interestingly, this engine uses a conventional straight flow combustor instead of a reverse flow combustor. We have not seen any prototype of Kalyani's 400KgF engine. All we have now are display models. Safe to say this engine is a few years away from bench testing. No display models of the 200 & 300 KgF engines have been seen so far. Wonder if they have been dropped.
The 400 KgF engine can be used for cruise missiles. Most modern anti-ship &/or land attack cruise missiles in the 300-600 km range use engines of this class. However this engine will face competition from the Manik STFE. The fact that Manik is more powerful & mature only darkens the prospect of this engine.
But the Kalyani 400KgF engine is more powerful than the 3.75 KN HAL PTAE-7 engine. The PTAE-7 was developed in the mid-80s & has been extensively used on target drones like Lakshya & Abhyas. The Navy's version of the upcoming CATS Warrior UCAV will be powered by 2 PTAE-7 engines.
Sooner or later the PTAE-7 will need to be replaced. There the 400KgF Kalyani engine maybe a very good replacement. The Kalyani's engine is likely to be smaller, lighter & more efficient than the PTAE-7.
If Kalyani is still working on their 200 & 300 KgF engines then there is competition coming up for that too. DRDO's RCI & NAL are collaborating to develop a small gas turbine jet engine for UAVs & missiles. the specs of the RCI/NAL engine are given below:
The 120 & 160 KgF engines will also be used in UAVs & missiles. There are no other Indian engines that can be a direct competition to these Kalyani engines yet. If these engines are used in air-launched subsonic cruise missiles we can have a range of ~500-600 km. For ground launched missiles the range will be 250-300 km at best.
In a few years we will have the entire gamut of turbojets in the 100-500 KgF class. That should be enough for most if not all of our UAV/UCAV & missile needs.
Bharat forge/Kalyani are developing a number of small gas turbine engines. Currently there are 120 KgF, 160 KgF, 200 KgF, 300 KgF & 400 KgF small turbojet engines being built. Apparently they also want to build turboshaft engines for helos & power generation. All the engines will be made using 70-90% 3D printing.
The turboshaft engines are still far away. Most of their work now is focused on the turbojet engines. Unsurprisingly the most amount of progress is seen in the first & the smallest engine of the bunch, the 120 KgF turbojet. 120 KgF translates to ~ 1.18 KN of thrust and/or 220 KW of electrical power.
Kalyani has put out a Augmented Reality app to market the engine. Some snaps from the said app:
View attachment 20833
The 3 sections of the engine:
View attachment 20834
The engine has a reverse flow annular combustor. the advantage of using a reverse flow combustor is that it reduced the overall length of the engine. However it is only effective up to a certain thrust class. At this thrust class, a reverse flow combustor is a very good design choice.
View attachment 20832
Cut out of the engine when it is running:
View attachment 20831
The engine has been test fired multiple times & is nearing the completion of its development. Here are the other engines. You can see the 120, 160 & the 400 KgF engines here:
View attachment 20835
This is the 160KgF/1.57 KN engine:
View attachment 20837
The 160KgF engine has also probably been test fired. The poster below was released by the company. Notice the 160KgF engine secured on a test bench on the top right. Also blue flames from the 120KgF engine.
View attachment 20836
And finally this is the 400 KgF/3.92 KN engine. This is the most powerful engine so far from Kalyani. For comparison, GTRE's Manik STFE produces 4.25 KN of thrust.
View attachment 20838
Interestingly, this engine uses a conventional straight flow combustor instead of a reverse flow combustor. We have not seen any prototype of Kalyani's 400KgF engine. All we have now are display models. Safe to say this engine is a few years away from bench testing. No display models of the 200 & 300 KgF engines have been seen so far. Wonder if they have been dropped.
The 400 KgF engine can be used for cruise missiles. Most modern anti-ship &/or land attack cruise missiles in the 300-600 km range use engines of this class. However this engine will face competition from the Manik STFE. The fact that Manik is more powerful & mature only darkens the prospect of this engine.
But the Kalyani 400KgF engine is more powerful than the 3.75 KN HAL PTAE-7 engine. The PTAE-7 was developed in the mid-80s & has been extensively used on target drones like Lakshya & Abhyas. The Navy's version of the upcoming CATS Warrior UCAV will be powered by 2 PTAE-7 engines.
View attachment 20839
Sooner or later the PTAE-7 will need to be replaced. There the 400KgF Kalyani engine maybe a very good replacement. The Kalyani's engine is likely to be smaller, lighter & more efficient than the PTAE-7.
If Kalyani is still working on their 200 & 300 KgF engines then there is competition coming up for that too. DRDO's RCI & NAL are collaborating to develop a small gas turbine jet engine for UAVs & missiles. the specs of the RCI/NAL engine are given below:
View attachment 20840
The 120 & 160 KgF engines will also be used in UAVs & missiles. There are no other Indian engines that can be a direct competition to these Kalyani engines yet. If these engines are used in air-launched subsonic cruise missiles we can have a range of ~500-600 km. For ground launched missiles the range will be 250-300 km at best.
In a few years we will have the entire gamut of turbojets in the 100-500 KgF class. That should be enough for most if not all of our UAV/UCAV & missile needs.
There is one more private company
Any update about this. @Gautam
Didn't know about this. What is HAL planning to use this on ? Or are they just making an engine with no specific use in mind.
I remember Poeir Jets. Haven't heard from them in a long while. So I thought they disappeared/stooped working in engines/went bankrupt or something.
This is the first time I am hearing of it.Any update about this. @Gautam
0.75 kN = 71.38 KgF
So it is significantly smaller than the 275 KgF RCI/NAL engine. It is also smaller than the 120 KgF Kalyani engine. In fact this is the smallest micro-turbo engine any Indian entity ever attempted to make. Who is making this engine ? GTRE ?
What could be the potential application of such an engine. Swarm drones is the only thing that comes to mind. But swarm drones are better off with electric engine or piston driven IC engines. A jet engine is significantly more expensive. A deep penetration suicide drone maybe. I don't know.
To think a couple of years ago, besides the PTAE-7, the micro-turbine engines were non existent in India. In such a small amount of time it has become cut-throat competitive.
So by my rudimentary count there are some 12-14 micro-turbine engines of various size & power being developed right now. Some of them have completed development, many others are in advanced stages of development. It looks like DRDO & Co. are going to start raining micro-turbine driven PGMs, drones, missiles soon.
Intech Additive Solutions
Bengaluru-based Intech Additive Solutions, earlier called Intech DMLS Limited, was the first Indian company to have indigenously developed jet engine series. A metal 3D printing provider and metal additive manufacturing establishment in 2018 helped India to become the first country in Asia and only the fourth country after the US, Europe and Israel to indigenously develop such an engine in the private space.
Poeir Jets, an R&D subsidiary of Intech Additive, showcased its series of jet engines to be used in unmanned aerial vehicles and remote-controlled aircraft. The engine MJE 20 is indigenously designed and manufactured with a thrust of 20 Kgf. It is currently undergoing testing at their Bengaluru facility.
www.entrepreneur.com
Bengaluru-based Intech Additive Solutions, earlier called Intech DMLS Limited, was the first Indian company to have indigenously developed jet engine series. A metal 3D printing provider and metal additive manufacturing establishment in 2018 helped India to become the first country in Asia and only the fourth country after the US, Europe and Israel to indigenously develop such an engine in the private space.
Poeir Jets, an R&D subsidiary of Intech Additive, showcased its series of jet engines to be used in unmanned aerial vehicles and remote-controlled aircraft. The engine MJE 20 is indigenously designed and manufactured with a thrust of 20 Kgf. It is currently undergoing testing at their Bengaluru facility.
These Four Indian Startups Are Adding Thrust To Country's Aviation Sector | Entrepreneur
India has become the third largest domestic aviation market in the world and is expected to overtake the UK to become the third largest air passenger market by 2024
www.entrepreneur.com
Please remember, flight worthy HTFE-25 is at least 5 years away.
A photo of the Manik engine from RM Rajnath Singh's visit to ADE.
