The Real Reasons for Rafale’s Indian Victory

Defence Aerospace ^ | Feb. 1, 2012 | Giovanni de Briganti

[Yo-Yo]

For Tejas MKII India is going for a SNECMA-Kaveri engine jv which will replace the GE F414, so the article is still technically correct.

India picks GE's F414 for Tejas MkII fighter

[ravager]

“DRDO has selected the more powerful GE-414 as the alternative engine for LCA Mk-II. However, it has been suggested that when the first 40 GE 404 engines in the initial two squadrons of the LCA for the Indian Air Force (IAF) get phased out, they should be replaced by the Kaveri-Snecma, in future.”

http://www.defencenow.com/news/76/drdo-and-french-major-snecma-to-finalize-engine-price-for-lca.html

[Yo-Yo]

The article you link to states that the Indians may at some point in the future replace the initial batch of GE F404s with Kaveri-Snecma, but says nothing about replacing the GE F414 in the Tejas Mk-II as you claimed. Frankly, given how much the IAF paid for those GE F404s, I doubt that they will get replaced very soon.

[sukhoi-30mki]

The Kaveri in whatever avatar is unlikely to ever power the LCA for the simple reasons of price and time constraints. My guess is that the LCA will live and die with the GE engines while the Kaveri is likely to be revamped for a fifth generation concept currently called the AMCA. That’s only solution that makes sense.

[sukhoi-30mki]

The four consortium members can’t decide what exact capabilities they want in their Typhoons and their budget cuts don’t help.

[ravager]

Well I stand corrected about the GE F414 replacement (even though there is a possibility they may be replaced as well in future). The GE F404 LCA MKIs are under-powered and does not even meet the IAF requirement.

However your original comment was in response to the article stating:

“Vital weapons such as missiles and fighters, when they cannot be locally produced, will remain the preserve of France and Russia.”

And you asked....
“What about vital components such as the engine for the Tejas?”

For the development of Kaveri engine which will power the LCA/AMCA in future the DRDO is in jv with SNECMA not GE. Lets not forget it was the US that nearly killed the LCA with sanctions. The GE F404/F414 engine purchase is just a stop gap measure until the Kaveri engine is fully developed. It is highly doubtful there will be anymore US involvement in AMCA/LCA beyond that. As far as India is concerned development of vital component such as the AMCA/LCA engine is still the preserve of France not the US.

[ravager]

Well I stand corrected about the GE F414 replacement (even though there is a possibility they may be replaced as well in future). The GE F404 LCA MKIs are under-powered and does not even meet the IAF requirement.

However your original comment was in response to the article stating:

“Vital weapons such as missiles and fighters, when they cannot be locally produced, will remain the preserve of France and Russia.”

And you asked....
“What about vital components such as the engine for the Tejas?”

For the development of Kaveri engine which will power the LCA/AMCA in future the DRDO is in jv with SNECMA not GE. Lets not forget it was the US that nearly killed the LCA with sanctions. The GE F404/F414 engine purchase is just a stop gap measure until the Kaveri engine is fully developed. It is highly doubtful there will be anymore US involvement in AMCA/LCA beyond that. As far as India is concerned development of vital component such as the AMCA/LCA engine is still the preserve of France not the US.