GE Aerospace and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly produce F414 engines for Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas-Mk2 for the Indian Air Force (IAF), ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden.
Tejas-Mk2 is meant to replace the aging IAF fleet of MiG-29s and Mirage 2000s.
The deal was made public hours after Modi’s meeting with GE Aerospace CEO H Lawrence Culp Jr in Washington.
The Prime Minister’s office tweeted snaps of the official engagement and said, “PM @narendramodi held productive discussions with CEO of @generalelectric, H. Lawrence Culp, Jr. They discussed GE’s greater technology collaboration to promote manufacturing in India”.
Agreements for the purchase of 31 General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper drones and the use of an MRO facility in India by the US Navy will also come through during Modi’s visit.
The agreement includes the potential joint production of GE Aerospace’s F414 engines in India.
GE Aerospace continues to work with the US government to receive the necessary export authorisation for this, the GE Aerospace has announced.
The inking of the pact is seen as a major push towards India achieving self-reliance in core defence technology.
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The transfer of technology by GE Aerospace will help India in the development of Kavery engines that would power unmanned aerial vehicles, sources said.
The HAL officials, however, said that they are waiting for the fine print of the MoU to share how the co-production process will unfold.
Sources said the US has agreed to 80 per cent technology transfer for the co-production of the GE-F414 afterburning turbofan engine in the 98 kN thrust class in India.