New Delhi: After nearly 2 years of delay, US company GE Aerospace has announced the delivery of the first of 99 F404-IN20 engines to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft Mk-1A.
The company, without alluding to the furore caused in India due to the delayed engine deliveries, in a press statement noted that restarting the engine’s production was a challenge.
The much-awaited engine comes after over 2 years of delays, which has directly affected the delivery of Tejas Mk-1A fighter jets to the Indian Air Force (IAF).
As reported by ThePrint earlier, according to the contract signed between HAL and GE in August 2021, the American firm is supposed to deliver 99 engines to cater to the IAF’s order for 83 LCA Mk-1A inked earlier that year.
The delay led to concerns within the IAF, which is eager to operationalise its new aircraft amid dwindling squadron strength. It is currently at 31 compared to a sanctioned strength of 42.
GE Aerospace had collaborated with India’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in the 1980s. In 2004, its F404-IN20 engine was selected for the single-engine Tejas.
“Our F404 engine family, one of the most successful in military aviation history, powers thousands of combat aircraft worldwide. The F404-IN20 engine is a tailored design for India’s single-engine fighter with the highest thrust within (the) F404 family and a higher-flow fan, unique single-crystal turbine blades, and numerous special components,” GE Aerospace said in a statement.
It added that GE Aerospace and Tejas teams collaborated closely for several years to customise the engine for the needs of the IAF. “The F404 demonstrated it was an excellent fit for the Tejas LCA. On its first test flight in 2008, the aircraft climbed to numerous mission altitudes and achieved Mach 1.1 speed,” the statement noted.
The US aerospace company said that by 2016, it had fulfilled its commitment to the HAL and delivered 65 F404-IN20 engines for the Tejas LCA. Further, it said, the production line had to be started from scratch to make additional engines as with no follow-on engine orders on the horizon, the production line for F404-IN20 was shut down.
“However, when HAL ordered an additional 99 engines in 2021 for the Tejas Mk-1A LCA, our team began the complex task of restarting the F404-IN20 production line, which had been dormant for five years, and re-engaging the engine’s global supply chain,” it stated.
It underscored that restarting the jet engine’s production line was a challenging process, more so during the Covid pandemic.
“With a high focus on safety and quality and a remarkable commitment from our supply chain teams and our suppliers and partners, we have managed to restart the line.”
GE’s lean operating model, known as ‘FLIGHT DECK’, helped the company alleviate bottlenecks and identify solutions to improve manufacturing processes and turnaround time, it said.
According to the US company, this week’s first engine delivery was a “testament to what we have accomplished with HAL over the past 40 years” and that it was a symbol of “our combined potential to ensure a strong future for India’s military”.
The Tejas Mk1As are intended to replace the ageing MiG-21 fleet, enhancing India’s combat readiness. In addition to the F404 engines, HAL is also collaborating with GE Aerospace on the GE-414 engine, which will be used to power the LCA Mk-II variant.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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Guys do better journalism. Most of the journalists missed seeing the contract and engines specified for the delays but talking about there being furore in India for the delay is too much.