Key points:
- The Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) lacked the necessary technology to implement the program.
- India lacked suitable test facilities.
- India lacks the necessary technology to build turbines.
- India lacks the engineering skills to build turbofan engines.
The Indian Kaveri engine program, intended to power the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft and the future AMCA, faced numerous setbacks and ultimately failed to meet its goals. The project was plagued by delays, technological challenges, and a lack of required infrastructure, leading to its termination as the primary engine for the Tejas.
Full-scale development of the Kaveri was approved in April 1989 for a 93-month program, expected to cost approximately $57 million USD. Both the schedule and the price tag raised some eyebrows; the former because the program was slated to use state-of-the-art turbine technologies that the Gas Turbine Research Establishment hadn’t previously mastered; the latter because the cost of a typical fighter engine runs to a few billion US dollars.
Slow progress (and specifically a tendency toward failing turbine blades that resulted in GTRE purchasing both blades and engine controls from SENCMA) combined with a lack of transparency resulted in a decision to acquire F404-GE-IN20 engines as an interim powerplant.
In 2004 (five years after the original target delivery date), the -35VS failed high altitude tests conducted in Russia (because India lacked the facilities to perform the tests), resulting in a second order for the F404.
Ongoing problems, issues with achieving the target weight and meeting the target performance, the inability to meet the schedule for the Tejas program, and the revelation that by 2009, more than $280 million USD had been spent on the program didn’t help the program’s chances. In 2020, the Kaveri program costs exceeded $1 billion solely to keep the GTRE afloat without producing any tangible results.
There was some discussion of reconstituting the program based on the SENCMA M88–2 engine from the Rafale, but the program effectively collapsed in 2014. However, a few years ago, France was offering to invest around a billion euros in restarting the project as part of an offset for India’s purchase of Rafales.
GTRE was wildly optimistic in terms of the schedule and cost of SENCMA, with a massive amount of experience building aircraft turbines, yet still needed more than a decade to bring the M88 to low-volume production after they’d a version running on the test stand.
There was a specific resistance to involving foreign manufacturers until the project was already wildly out of control.
So, while there were serious technical challenges, the biggest issue was a poor understanding of the reality of the problem being undertaken and a complete failure to ask for help when it became evident that the problem was far bigger than believed.
Several factors contributed to the Kaveri engine’s failure:
Technological Gaps and Limited Expertise– India lacked the necessary expertise and infrastructure for designing and manufacturing advanced jet engines. This included limitations in materials science, metallurgy, and testing facilities.
Funding and Resource Constraints– The project faced funding limitations and struggled to acquire the necessary resources for research and development.
Missed Deadlines and Delays– The program experienced significant delays and missed numerous deadlines, further hindering progress.
Lack of Openness and Collaboration– There was a perceived lack of openness to collaboration with industry and academia, which could have provided valuable expertise and resources.
Management and Leadership Issues– Some reports suggest that leadership within the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), the organization responsible for the Kaveri engine, was not focused on the project’s success and was resistant to collaboration.
In conclusion, the Kaveri engine’s failure highlights the complexities and challenges involved in developing advanced military technologies. Although the project did not meet its initial goals, it did contribute to the development of technological capabilities and expertise within India. The Kaveri program was eventually dropped as the primary engine for the Tejas, with the more advanced and proven GE F404 engine being selected.
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