In June 2023, India and the US announced an agreement to produce fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force (IAF). The deal is between the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and GE Aerospace.

A fighter jet engine technology deal is progressing on time and a detailed technical proposal to set up a manufacturing unit in India jointly with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) will be shared with the state-run company early this year, GE Aerospace Defence & Systems President Amy Gowder told ET.

GE and HAL signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington in June to produce 99 F414 engines for India’s light combat aircraft (LCA) TEJAS MK-2 program during PM Narendra Modi’s visit. The deal will involve 80% transfer of technology (ToT) and is estimated to be worth around $1 billion.

The joint production of GE Aerospace’s F414 engines in India will help the country overcome a striking technology gap, lay the foundation for indigenous development of bigger jet engines , and possibly open doors to exports, HAL chief CB Ananthakrishnan said, adding that the American company and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited could hammer out a deal within a year.

“We have lacked the capabilities required to build jet engines,” he said in an interview. “The deal we are negotiating with GE will help fix the shortcomings. It will bring advanced technologies into the country and form the basis of future engine programs to meet the Indian Air Force’s growing needs.”

This “never-seen-before” scale of technology transfer will be a “big game-changer”, and result in the TEJAS MK-2 fighter jets having a significantly improved indigenous content compared to the two current TEJAS variants, MK-1 and MK-1A, Ananthakrishnan said. “Still, we will drive a hard bargain to conclude the most competitive deal. The figure of $1 billion has been indicated by them (GE) and our effort will be to bring it down.”

HAL’s current experience with engines includes manufacturing the AL-31FP engines for Sukhoi Su-30s under licence from Russia, and the Shakti engines that power the advanced light helicopter and the light combat helicopter that have been co-developed with French engine maker Safran, the HAL chief said. HAL is also carrying out repair and overhaul of other aircraft engines.

The ToT for F414s will cover 11 critical areas many of which were entirely off-limits more than a decade ago when the US and India began talks on the possible production of the engines in the country, HAL officials said. Back then, the US agreed to only 58% technology transfer, keeping a string of key engine technologies out of India’s reach.

The F414 has evolved from the F404 engine that powers the existing MK-1 and MK-1A variants and is imported from the US. The local production of the F414 engines will result in the MK-2 jets having an indigenous content of 75% compared to 55%-60% in MK-1A and 50% in MK-1.

HAL will set up a new engine complex for producing the F414 engines as existing capacities are insufficient for the program.

The deal will also see India receive 11 key technologies, including:

Special coatings for corrosion, erosion, and thermal barrier for hot end
Machining and coating for single crystal turbine blades
Machining and coating of nozzle guide vanes and other hot end parts
Blisk machining
Machining of powder metallurgy discs for turbine
The engine's main specifications include:
An afterburner turbofan 154-inch long engine in the 22,000-pound (98 kilo newtons) thrust class
A thrust-to-weight ratio of 9:1