GE, HAL to produce fighter jet engines in India

Ajay Banerjee

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New Delhi, June 22

Aerospace giant General Electric (GE) today said it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to produce engines for fighter jets of the IAF, making an important landmark and a geo-strategic shift.

This would possibly mean that 417 fighter jets, which are scheduled to be manufactured in India over the next two decades, will be equipped with US-made engines. So far, the Russia-made jets flying with Russian engines dominate the inventory of the IAF and the Navy.

The GE made the announcement amid Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official state visit to the US. The agreement includes the potential joint production of GE Aerospace’s F414 engines in India. “GE Aerospace continues to work with the US Government to receive the necessary export authorisation for this,” the company said.

Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mark-2 jets will be equipped with the F414 engine. HAL plans to manufacture 108 Tejas Mark-2 jets.

Another GE engine, the F404, powers the existing the Tejas Mark-1 jets. The same engine will be used in Tejas Mark-1A, the production of which is expected to start next year.

So far, 75 of the F404 engines have been delivered and the order for another 99 has been placed for the LCA Mark-1A jets. Another eight F414 engines have been delivered as part of an ongoing development programme for the LCA Mark-2 jets.

“It puts the company in a strong position to create a family of products in India apart from the F414 engine,” the GE said.

Powered by F414

• F414 engine is 35% more powerful than its predecessor, F404
• F414 powers Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet used by US forces
• The F414 engine has done five million flight hours
• Eight nations use jets powered by the F414 engine
• More than 1,600 F414 engines have been delivered globally
• In 2000, GE opened a research and tech centre at Bengaluru
• It has a factory at Pune, which opened in 2015