U.S. considering General Electric’s application to jointly produce jet engines in India
The Hindu
A new innovation bridge will be created to connect defence start-ups on both sides, says Ministry of External Affairs
The U.S. is considering an application received from engine manufacturer General Electric (GE) to jointly produce jet engines for fighter aircraft produced indigenously by India. This includes the GE-414 engines selected by India to power the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk2 and the fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), both under development.
It is pertinent to note that an earlier effort at co-developing a jet engine under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) has failed to take off owing to U.S. domestic legislation following which the Joint Working Group on it was wound up.
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“In the field of defence manufacturing, the two sides agreed to focus on joint production of key items of mutual interest. The U.S. committed to expeditious review of the licence application submitted by General Electric to produce jet engines in India for the indigenously manufactured LCA. A new Innovation bridge will be created to connect defence start-ups on both sides,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement issued on the visit of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to the U.S. He co-chaired the inaugural meeting of the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) along with his U.S. counterpart Jake Sullivan.
“The United States commits to an expeditious review of this application,” said a fact sheet issued by the White House on “U.S.-India elevate strategic partnership with the initiative on iCET.”
The fact sheet outlined a new bilateral defence industrial cooperation roadmap to accelerate technological cooperation between both countries for joint development and production, with an initial focus on exploring projects related to jet engines, munition-related technologies, and other systems.