Reliance Industries and Rolls-Royce on Friday said they intend to jointly develop a sovereign combat engine for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme, marking a bid by India's largest private-sector company and Britain's storied aero-engine maker to build indigenous fighter-jet propulsion capability in the country.
Reliance Industries and Rolls-Royce on Friday said they intend to jointly develop a sovereign combat engine for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme, marking a bid by India's largest private-sector company and Britain's storied aero-engine maker to build indigenous fighter-jet propulsion capability in the country.
Built as an expendable, short-duration turbojet engine for single-mission applications, it can power tactical cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, and long-range loitering munitions.
Pakistan is reportedly pursuing Chinese J-35 stealth fighters while China already operates hundreds of J-20 stealth aircraft.
Despite a disappointing Q4 FY26 performance, many analysts remain bullish on Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) due to its substantial order book and pipeline. However, persistent supply chain issues, particularly for jet engines, and execution challenges are key factors that could impact its future stock performance and revenue growth.
While its operating radius remains secret, a back-of-the-envelope calculation indicates it can easily strike targets 1,000 kilometres away and return to base.
The deal is expected to help HAL to get its complete requirement of 212 GE-404 engines in continuity, avoiding any types of delays in engine supplies.
HAL's order book amounts to Rs 2.45 trillion by end of Q2FY26, implying a book-to-bill ratio of 32 times based on FY25 revenue.
In the event of a war with China, AMCA deep strikes would target China's rail and road links with Tibet, isolating PLA divisions there.
The HAL and GE from the US would be producing these engines jointly in a facility in India.
If I were to explain stealth to a layperson, I'd ask them to think of the game chupan-chupai (hide and seek) we played as children, explains Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
United States President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to make meaningful advancements on the GE jet engine deal and civil nuclear technology during their bilateral talks, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was cited in a Reuters report.
'The heat shield technology for re-entry vehicles was first mastered in DRDO for the Agni missile.' 'This is why the Americans were so opposed to Agni in the 1980s, unlike other missiles -- it was a re-entry vehicle.'
The pact is significant as India has been sourcing its military jets from Russia and European consortia.
India does not have the facilities needed for developing advanced aerospace products. There is only one wind tunnel in the country, the almost six decade old one in the National Aeronautics Laboratory.
There is little appetite among combat aircraft engine makers to share the IP that results from a co-creation project. But Rolls-Royce is willing to walk the Aatmanirbhar talk.
IIT Kanpur has announced a breakthrough in stealth technology, which would make tanks and fighter aircraft invisible, or near-invisible to enemy radar.
The real value of the Tejas Mark 1 is the role it will now play in the development of India's next generation of fighter aircraft that will be more technologically advanced and lethal.
The Indian Navy, which was earlier looking towards the US for design expertise, technical know-how and operational practices, is now considering the advantages of working with the Royal Navy.
Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) is one of the largest beneficiaries of the defence indigenisation programme. The aerospace Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) has just received a new tender for 97 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A, and it is already servicing an earlier order for 83 LCA aircraft. The new order is worth around Rs 65,000 crore with a 65 per cent indigenisation component, whereas the earlier order (February 21) was worth Rs 45,700 crore with 55 per cent indigenisation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Abu Dhabi on July 15.
India on Thursday approved proposals for purchasing 26 Naval variant of Rafale jets from France and procuring three French-designed Scorpene class submarines, a day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's wide-ranging talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
Top HAL sources say the AMCA, which is being developed as the IAF's next-generation stealth fighter, is slated to be assembled at HAL Nashik.
The outgoing Tejas chief said the aircraft will join the IAF fleet by 2021-22.
The Southeast Asian nation has been focusing on modernising its military in the face of myriad security challenges as well as decades-long territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
Boeing's plan involves setting up an Indian factory and the aerospace ecosystem to build the Block II Super Hornet.
'While fighter pilots must not be sent into combat in inferior aircraft, an obsessive quest for outright combat superiority will leave an air force short of numbers,' says Ajai Shukla.
It is learnt that the Chinese JF-17 was cheaper but could not match the technical parameters of the Tejas Mk-IA variant and the offer of maintenance of the Su-30 fleet as proposed by India.
The IAF chief stressed on the ongoing development of advanced landing ground along the Himalayas.
The cancellation of the project has far-reaching implications for the IAF, for which this was once its high-tech future fighter.
Burned by the shooting down of a MiG-21 aircraft and the capture of its pilot after a dogfight over the India-Pakistan border in February 2019, CATS eliminates the need to send pilots into enemy air space.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar says global aircraft makers will have to get approval from their own governments to transfer technology and build jets in India.
'The greatest loss from replacing the 126 Rafale proposal with the 2016 contract for 36 Rafales might not be the extra money paid, but the opportunity that India's aerospace industry lost of obtaining access to critical aviation technologies and manufacturing skills.'
