14 New High Thrust Engine will be used as TD for AMCA Program

Source : IDRW

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DRDO’s GTRE is planning to conclude a deal with either Safran or Rolls-Royce for the development of a new 110kN Class thrust engine that can be used to power India’s AMCA MkII jets that goes into production in 2035 by mid of this year that will be directly under the preview of the PM’s Office and will be taken as a national project for which clearance of the project will likely take place soon.

idrw.org has been told that nearly 8 new engines will be manufactured after inking the deal within three years from the date of agreement that will be used as ground technology demonstrator engines to be used to test the engine in various configurations with or without afterburner section initially after which the project moves to fabrication of 6 more flying technology demonstrator engine that will be used on the Flying Test Bed aircraft prepared for the program.

The new engine will have higher Dry thrust to cope with hot humid Indian weather conditions so that AMCA MkII can supercruise without engaging its afterburners due to which at least four engines will be in Core alone configuration. Engine planned for AMCA that will later make its way into TEDBF and Mk2 program is the first engine that is climatized to work in Indian conditions where the general loss of power in dry and humid conditions is much more than what you find in western or European conditions due to which engine will have higher Dry thrust and will be able to demonstrate 110kN class of thrust with its afterburner engaged that usually is not possible with the present set of engines used in various aircraft types that generally see 10-20% drop in power in Indian conditions.

GTRE and HAL along with the International engine partner plan to complete the developmental and testing phase of the new engine within 7 years of the start of the program and start delivering the first set of engines within 2 years that will be manufactured by HAL with 3 Private sector companies that will be part of its supply chain for components and systems for the engine. GTRE plans to keep a 20% growth margin for the core of the new engine so that it can be used to either power 6th gen platforms or be used on improved variants of AMCA in the future.

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