It's not that easy, If another engine share the same interface with F414 that engine most likely also contain US technology and could be subjected to sanction.
Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter bd popeye
- Start date
India should just buy into the Su-75 to replace the MiG-21. They would certainly get a license to assemble it. But this being India I am certain they will find some way to botch things up.
Told ya. What did they expect, a license to produce the M88 engine in India? Fat chance.
Maybe if it was an older engine like the one in the Mirage 2000 it could have happened.
The way ToT is made today a given budget is assigned for technological assistance. But it is typically a pittance.
Two production lines with which engines? Because GE isn't delivering engines.
They should have never cancelled the Kaveri engine program. And they should have started the engine program before making the aircraft.
Since they seem to have such a disgust for Russian engines, they could have easily got some RD-33 variant, maybe they should just redesign the Tejas to use the M88 engine. Ask France to supply that.
They never canceled the Kaveri. They simply couldn't get the thing working properly.
While their foresight is lacking in many things -- like not funding a program to develop a transport, for example -- it's not really the case with Kaveri.
In the Kaveri, they funded it since the 1980s. It is their inability to develop and manufacture that's the reason here.
Just a casual glance at their reporting on the thing tells me they are funding a 4-decade-old dud not that they've given up on it. It us literally their singular engine project.
I think some Indians self-flagellate on how the Kaveri was undersupported or whatever so they can ignore the elephant in the room -- and that is they simply do not have the technical ability develop and manufacture a aero-engine locally.
The Kaveri began at the same time as the WS-10. They are both live programs. The difference is the WS-10 follows a Chinese path of progression while the Kaveri follows an Indian one.
It should've also been easier and faster to develop since its a smaller engine with a lower thrust (90kn) vs WS-10 (140~kn). So it's even worse they couldn't get it in service before WS-10, and heck even WS-15.
To be fair, we're talking about the Indians here, who are rather famous or infamous for their loquaciousness and unfounded bragging rather than doing the actual work.
I have exposed myself to various Indian media ( social media, print media, podcast) to glean an unfortunate reality that they love to boast achieving some super duper achievements before even realizing or make that grandiose talk close to realization. And when the nightmare scenario almost always inevitably comes their way, a zillion excuses are churn out like samosas as reasons and never about their lack of self-awareness; not to mention hardwork and disciplined persistency in achieving what they have aimed so highly to begin with. Then rinse repeat.
Some might say the boastfulness of some random no-name indians in social media does not reflect how the government operates... but when retired high ranking indian officers espouse the same delusions, it's not looking too good on the entire country.
Well, you have to give them at least some credit for pragmaticism. They targeted the LCA and the Kaveri because they are smaller products with lower specs and costs that should have been, in theory, easier to develop and manufacture than the medium size J-10 and the heavy-weight WS-10 engine.
They simply couldn't deliver on whatever goal they targeted. The fact they don't even have a domestic turbojet, turboprop or even piston for their drones tells they don't have much of an actual technical base for any aero-engine to be honest.
China cut its teeth on literally thousands of turbojets for the J-5 (JJ-5), J-6, J-7, J-8 and the WJ-6 for the Y-7, Y-8, Y-9 powers some of the most versatile platforms around. Turbojets and turboprops are what powers a majority of unmanned aircraft.
If India could get the Kaveri in a homemade drone, it would be massive progress for them.
So what started at the same time as engine projects for frontline fighters in both countries saw the WS-10 powering J-10s, J-11s, J-16s and J-20s and the Kaveri hoping for life as a drone engine. That is basically the story of China and India.
Didn't India also produce turbojets for MiG-21 under license? I find the actual truth of India's jet engine production capabilities more difficult to decipher than China's. With China, there is a simple lack of public information, with India, you are buried with lies.
Take this for example
The claim is that the Al-31 made in India is made from "raw materials"
Now a more recent article
That is only a little more than half, a far cry from the complete engine from raw materials in 2017
It seems like the primary explanation for the success of WS-10 relative to Kaveri is simply the industrial maturity that happened in China in the past 40 years vs. India.
From what I could tell, their local contribution to the turbojets and the AL-31 was assembling parts around the imported core?
I don't see any sign of an industrial base that can make its own engines.
Look at the lack of engines for their drones. If they can build a domestic turbojet, they would have it powering an UAV instead of waiting for the Kaveri. China powers the WZ-7 with the WP-13 from the J-7 which is basically derived from a MiG-21 engine.
I don't see any evidence of any Indian domestic engine of any type besides the Kaveri to be honest. No turboprop, no turbojet. Not even piston engines.
They have to import pistons for their UAV prototypes. Their Rustom and Tapas UAVs are using Lycoming and Rotax.