By IANS,
New Delhi : India has received bids for developing a more powerful engine for the homemade Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, as the development of the indigenous Kaveri engine is yet to be completed, Defence Minister A.K. Antony told the Lok Sabha Monday.
Antony said in a written reply that the proposal on developing the engine under a joint venture is under consideration with the government.
“Request for proposal (RFP) for procuring 99 engines have been sent to two short-listed engine manufacturers, namely GE F414 from General Electric Aviation, USA and EJ200 from Eurojet Germany,” Antony said.
“The engine houses have responded to the RFP. Both commercial and technical responses have been received for procurement of 99 engines along with transfer of technology,” Antony added.
Tejas, meant to replace the ageing MiG-21 fleet of the Indian Air Force (IAF), is currently under development in Bangalore for the last couple of decades.
The Aeronautical Development Agency of the DRDO is developing the supersonic combat aircraft along with the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL).
The IAF has placed an order for 20 Tejas lightweight multi-role planes, India’s second indigenous fighter aircraft, and is inclined to increase the number to 40.
Earlier, it was planned that a turbofan engine, the GTX-35VS Kaveri, being developed by the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), would be fitted to the production aircraft. But delays in development led to the purchase of General Electric engines, which even faced rough weather due to the sanctions imposed post-1998 nuclear tests.
The IAF had expressed reservations about the GE engines as it increased the plane’s weight from 8,000 kg to 10,000 kg. This delayed the production of the aircraft and it will be ready for delivery only by 2011.