Reeling under a compelling shortage of fighter aircraft, India’s woes of scarcity may get resolved when a deal between India’s leading defence public sector undertaking—Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)—and US conglomerate General Electric (GE) is inked later this month, sources told THE WEEK.
PM Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet US President Joe Biden on June 22, during the former’s official visit to the US. Much of the groundwork is expected to be cleared during a meeting between Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Secretary of Defense Llyod James Austin at 10am on Monday.
The deal for jointly making the powerful GE F414-INS6 aero-engine on Indian soil, to power an enhanced version of India’s indigenous Light Combat Aircraft—Tejas Mk2—will also open the possibility for fitting the engine into a range of other fighter aircraft that India is planning to develop and produce.
“At the moment, the focus is on aero-engines for the Tejas Mk 2 and our insistence on total Transfer of Technology (ToT), so we are working out the details. It is a definitive development and holds out a lot of potential for manufacturing an entire range of fighter aircraft,” a source familiar with the development told THE WEEK.
The earlier version of the Tejas LCA was also powered by a GE aero-engine—the F404. But the GE F414- INS6 is among the most powerful from the GE stable with the highest thrust.
To fight a simultaneous two-front war against adversaries in the north and west, in terms of sheer numbers, India needs at least 756 fighter aircraft or about 42 squadrons. But at the moment, the Indian Air Force (IAF) currently operates only about 560 aircraft with a critical deficit of about 196 odd fighters.
The problem would further worsen in view of the gradual phasing out of Mig-21s, Jaguars, Mirage 2000s, and Mig-29s by 2030. On average, the normal life expectancy of a fighter aircraft is about 40 years and most of these fighters have exceeded that a long time ago.
With ‘Atmanirbharta’ or self-reliance becoming the guiding mantra in defence manufacturing, the emphasis has been on developing indigenous capabilities for aircraft production and focus on collaborations with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in developing and producing these combat platforms.
While India needs assured access to aero-engine technology, the US is keen to position India against a rising and more assertive China in the Indo-Pacific region.
