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DRDO, French company talks on Kaveri jet engine crash
NEW DELHI: The plan to develop the indigenous Kaveri fighter jet engine as part of the Rafale offsets deal with the help of French technology is believed to have fallen through after the Indian side found the pricing prohibitive.
At least three people, who were part of the discussions, told ET that the project is now as good as over. The engine was supposed to power the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) as well as future fighter jets.
The talks with French engine manufacturer Safran, which makes the engines and electronics for the Rafale fighters, seem to have hit a roadblock after it emerged in detailed studies that only a part of the offsets — just over €250 million — could be utilised for the project. Defence Research and Development Organisation would have had to provide the remaining €500 million, said sources.
ET has learnt that DRDO did not find this price reasonable and is no longer considering the upgraded Kaveri engine for the next batch of 83 LCAs to be made in India or the Mark-2 version of the jet planned in the near future. The fighter jets are now likely to be powered by engines supplied by US’ General Electric. DRDO has spent more than €240 million on the Kaveri project so far without success.
Four Years of Work Needed
As per the Rafale contract, French companies have to invest 3.4 billion euros worth of offsets in India by 2023. Of these, Safran alone has to execute offsets in excess of 580 million euros. The company, sources said, is now struggling to fulfil its obligations.
Other firms undertaking offsets for the Rafale deal — Dassault, Thales and missile manufacturer MBDA — have already submitted detailed plans to execute their obligations and have commenced work with Indian partners.
Sources told ET that advanced talks on reviving the Kaveri engine took place between DRDO and the French manufacturer, which were followed by a detailed project assessment, which brought out that four years of work was needed to get the engine back on track.
As per the proposal being discussed, the Kaveri engine, which was more or less abandoned as a project in 2014 since it did not provide enough thrust for the fighter jets, was to be modified into a worldclass product with transfer of technology as well as manufacturing rights.
Engines are the most critical systems on fighter jets, and few nations have been able to master the technology to manufacture them. Rough estimates show that for a fleet of 200 LCAs in service, the cost of engines alone would be in excess of 25 billion euros over the lifecycle of the planes.
India has been struggling to develop its own combat jet engine despite efforts stretching over two decades. Efforts are also on to develop a graded down ‘Ghatak’ version of the Kaveri engine for use in the unmanned aerial combat vehicle being developed by India.
NEW DELHI: The plan to develop the indigenous Kaveri fighter jet engine as part of the Rafale offsets deal with the help of French technology is believed to have fallen through after the Indian side found the pricing prohibitive.
At least three people, who were part of the discussions, told ET that the project is now as good as over. The engine was supposed to power the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) as well as future fighter jets.
The talks with French engine manufacturer Safran, which makes the engines and electronics for the Rafale fighters, seem to have hit a roadblock after it emerged in detailed studies that only a part of the offsets — just over €250 million — could be utilised for the project. Defence Research and Development Organisation would have had to provide the remaining €500 million, said sources.
ET has learnt that DRDO did not find this price reasonable and is no longer considering the upgraded Kaveri engine for the next batch of 83 LCAs to be made in India or the Mark-2 version of the jet planned in the near future. The fighter jets are now likely to be powered by engines supplied by US’ General Electric. DRDO has spent more than €240 million on the Kaveri project so far without success.
Four Years of Work Needed
As per the Rafale contract, French companies have to invest 3.4 billion euros worth of offsets in India by 2023. Of these, Safran alone has to execute offsets in excess of 580 million euros. The company, sources said, is now struggling to fulfil its obligations.
Other firms undertaking offsets for the Rafale deal — Dassault, Thales and missile manufacturer MBDA — have already submitted detailed plans to execute their obligations and have commenced work with Indian partners.
Sources told ET that advanced talks on reviving the Kaveri engine took place between DRDO and the French manufacturer, which were followed by a detailed project assessment, which brought out that four years of work was needed to get the engine back on track.
As per the proposal being discussed, the Kaveri engine, which was more or less abandoned as a project in 2014 since it did not provide enough thrust for the fighter jets, was to be modified into a worldclass product with transfer of technology as well as manufacturing rights.
Engines are the most critical systems on fighter jets, and few nations have been able to master the technology to manufacture them. Rough estimates show that for a fleet of 200 LCAs in service, the cost of engines alone would be in excess of 25 billion euros over the lifecycle of the planes.
India has been struggling to develop its own combat jet engine despite efforts stretching over two decades. Efforts are also on to develop a graded down ‘Ghatak’ version of the Kaveri engine for use in the unmanned aerial combat vehicle being developed by India.
So, is this the end of the road? Where do we go from here?DRDO, French company talks on Kaveri jet engine crash
NEW DELHI: The plan to develop the indigenous Kaveri fighter jet engine as part of the Rafale offsets deal with the help of French technology is believed to have fallen through after the Indian side found the pricing prohibitive.
At least three people, who were part of the discussions, told ET that the project is now as good as over. The engine was supposed to power the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) as well as future fighter jets.
The talks with French engine manufacturer Safran, which makes the engines and electronics for the Rafale fighters, seem to have hit a roadblock after it emerged in detailed studies that only a part of the offsets — just over €250 million — could be utilised for the project. Defence Research and Development Organisation would have had to provide the remaining €500 million, said sources.
ET has learnt that DRDO did not find this price reasonable and is no longer considering the upgraded Kaveri engine for the next batch of 83 LCAs to be made in India or the Mark-2 version of the jet planned in the near future. The fighter jets are now likely to be powered by engines supplied by US’ General Electric. DRDO has spent more than €240 million on the Kaveri project so far without success.
Four Years of Work Needed
As per the Rafale contract, French companies have to invest 3.4 billion euros worth of offsets in India by 2023. Of these, Safran alone has to execute offsets in excess of 580 million euros. The company, sources said, is now struggling to fulfil its obligations.
Other firms undertaking offsets for the Rafale deal — Dassault, Thales and missile manufacturer MBDA — have already submitted detailed plans to execute their obligations and have commenced work with Indian partners.
Sources told ET that advanced talks on reviving the Kaveri engine took place between DRDO and the French manufacturer, which were followed by a detailed project assessment, which brought out that four years of work was needed to get the engine back on track.
As per the proposal being discussed, the Kaveri engine, which was more or less abandoned as a project in 2014 since it did not provide enough thrust for the fighter jets, was to be modified into a worldclass product with transfer of technology as well as manufacturing rights.
Engines are the most critical systems on fighter jets, and few nations have been able to master the technology to manufacture them. Rough estimates show that for a fleet of 200 LCAs in service, the cost of engines alone would be in excess of 25 billion euros over the lifecycle of the planes.
India has been struggling to develop its own combat jet engine despite efforts stretching over two decades. Efforts are also on to develop a graded down ‘Ghatak’ version of the Kaveri engine for use in the unmanned aerial combat vehicle being developed by India.
While China is planning to invest 300 billion dollars during next decade in aerospace engine technology it is sad to see we can't even spend 500 million in this critical technology.
We have to do it ourselves now.
But it's pretty stupid. If a 500M investment allows us to replace the F404 and F414, then it's well worth the price. Hopefully the govt steps in.
Its really sad that we have all the talent and workforce required , only thing we lack is monetary resources , political will and long term strategy
The Indians want to play in the big league, but if you look at their decisions, they are small players.
Your next order for Rafale is slave to Kaveri. Even Modi will not be able to save you if the engine is not made flight worthy. Please take it seriously. Many companies have been banned from repeat orders for their failure to meet offsets including American companies. Safran which makes the engines for Rafale will be next and your time ends with the delivery of first aircraft. The offsets have to be in place with the delivery of first aircraft. You have just 30 days. After that Indian opposition will take Modi to cleaners in our Supreme Court and they will get a stay on further orders with any French company.
French might be complacent seeing that IAF needs new fighters to arrest sqdn downfall and Govt of India and IAF don't have choice other than placing order for more Rafales but they don't seem to understand that other countries and fighter manufacturers are in line to push their planes F-16s ok F21s, F18s, Mig31s, Gripen, SU35, more su30mkis and of course LCA TEJAS,etc.
@Picdelamirand-oil Dassault and France will get nasty surprise if offsets are not delivered. Especially Kaveri engine is central to getting any new order and if Kaveri engine or any other jet engine k10 is delivered you will be assured of 200+ Rafales as much as French air force and Navy will order. So even if you may get less money for jet engine technology you will be able to make up more than enough on the entire deal....
Negotiators have only so much power. In this case, the govt has to step in, just like Modi did in 2015 when he rescued Rafale negotiations with the 36 jet deal.
There is also the possibility of blackmail from the French side. Both sides know how much money is involved in engines for 300+ aircraft.
The same thing happened when prices were jacked up for the 2 remaining Phalcon AWACS. Initially it was $1.3B for 2 aircraft. Modi stepped in and the price is now $800M for both. Similar case with the LCA Mk1A, the govt stepped in again to reduce price.
The way I see it, Modi will meet Macron at the G7 summit on the 24th, there may be some exchange of words, and things will go back on track. Prices will fall when equivalent exchanges are made. Right now, we are interested in 3 more Scorpenes, 36 more Rafales, A330s etc, not counting all the Airbus deals pending for civilian aviation. Not to mention the 6 civilian nuclear reactors. Plenty of ways to cut the cake.
First time in our history, we have an active govt, not a bureaucracy-led govt. So let's see what happens.
Anyway, in the meantime, if the plan to equip Kaveri on LCA Mk1A is still active, I hope they at least go ahead with that first. They can think about uprated Kaveri K10 for the MWF at a later date. 250M should more than easily cover K9+ since only integration and flight tests are pending.
As usual, Indians sabotage cooperation and blame others.
If this was any other deal, damage control was possible. Any failure of offsets negotiation at this stage will be serious, because of the media scrutiny.