As Safran Aircraft Engines gets busy jointly developing a new engine with Germany’s MTU Aero Engines to power Europe’s 6th Generation Next Generation Fighter program. Safran Aircraft Engines along with Consortium of Indian companies (HALL/ GTRE/MIDANI/KALYANI) have also decided to develop a new engine for India’s 5.5 Generation AMCA fighter jet program under which it plans to develop a new 110 kilo Newton Thrust Class but since details of the program are not available in the public domain, we will have to rely on previous offers that were made by France.
Safran Aircraft Engines for the last decade or more held talks with India’s GTRE to develop a new engine that will be Hybrid between M88 & Kaveri engine, that will see an amalgamation of technologies from both countries. The original idea was to use old studies done by the Safran Aircraft Engines for the development of M88-4 in the mid 90s that could generate 110 kilo Newton Class of Reheat thrust and was originally offered as a replacement to Mirage 2000 operators that were sold with an M-53K that is 95 kilo Newton Reheat engines.
M88-4 was not considered by French Air Force nor by any other
operator of the Mirage-2000 but Safran Aircraft Engines did try to sell them to
aircraft manufactures like Saab, as a potential replacement for the Volvo Aero
Engines RM-12 (General Electric F404) in the JAS-39 Gripen but that never
materialized.
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M88-4 in concept meets the criteria set by the designers of
the AMCA but this concept is over 30 years old now and procuring them for 5.5
and even for the 6th generation fighter program will mean staying behind the
curves since engines play a vital role in defining a fighter jet in the class
it wants to be known.
M88-4 Core likely will be using a Distortion tolerant fan
that DRDO has developed but it also needs a thermal management system that will
require the new engine to tap into advanced composite materials for its exhaust
system technologies. Many countries are also now moving towards an electrical
embedded starter generator that doesn’t require a gearbox underneath the engine
that in turn makes engine dimensions smaller and that’s what is desirable in a
stealthy platform.
AMCA also requires its new engine to have the ability to go
supersonic without the use of afterburners that will also require engine
calibration to the airframe and high temperature core that can generate enough
Dry thrust. M88-4 even though never went into production nor it was
demonstrated to its full potential, India still wants a new engine it plans to
develop that has a growth potential of 20-30% so that a higher thrust engine
can be developed if required for future aerospace programs.
Since the M88-4 concept was based on an upgraded M88 Too
Core, it’s not clear if the M88-4 core technically will have the same level of
growth potential for future variants. M88-4 concept can’t be adapted as a whole
in 2030 developed fighter jet since the technology behind this engine will be
over 40 years old.
While it’s important that India needs to invest in the new
jet engine program for its AMCA Stealth platform but it also needs to ensure
that the engine is adaptable to the modern propulsion technologies that are
already underway so that it remains technologically relevant for the next 40
and more years for both AMCA and what will come beyond it.
India needs to get its hands not only on the Core Technology
but also on the thermal management system, DRDO and other associate labs over
the years have developed multiple pieces in the jigsaw called jet engines that
should give it enough confidence to go for more since the jet engine technology
after a brief pause is again seeing rapid growth in adoption of newer techs in
this field world over and India can’t afford to stay behind the curve.
