With the Defence Research and Development Organization’s (DRDO) Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) collaborating with France’s Safran Group to jointly develop an indigenous high-thrust fighter jet engine under complete Indian Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), India is poised to embark on its most ambitious aerospace program to date.
The intended engine is intended to power next-generation Indian fighters, including the twin-engine Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) and the deck-based carrier fighters of the Indian Navy. It will have an initial thrust of 120 kilo-newtons (KN) and be scalable up to 140 KN.
This development occurs at a pivotal moment, just after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reiterated that India will soon enter this eagerly anticipated technological frontier and Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly called for the construction of domestic aircraft engines from the Red Fort on Independence Day.
With Safran giving DRDO exclusive control of its jet engine technology, the deal aims to bring about a significant technological advancement in India’s aerospace sector. Modern high-performance engines greatly increase their efficiency, heat tolerance, and lifespan thanks to advanced crucial know-how such single-crystal turbine blade technology.
Although DRDO has shown laboratory proficiency in this area, it has yet to incorporate the technology into a potent, frontline fighter-class engine. Importantly, comprehensive technology transfer guarantees that India would retain all intellectual property rights, eliminating long-standing reliance on outside vendors and allowing for autonomous design development and scaling.
Over the course of 12 years, Safran-GTRE is anticipated to create at least nine prototypes, starting with 120 KN engines and gradually increasing capacity to 140 KN through incremental improvements in material science, cooling technologies, combustion systems, and turbine efficiency.
This move has significant national strategic ramifications. New Delhi is purposefully picking Paris over Washington because France is positioned as a reliable partner that has continuously supplied cutting-edge defense technologies, even amid sanctions.
Previous U.S. technology-sharing deals, including the GE-F414 agreement, had geopolitical restrictions, restricted transfer to roughly 70%, and withheld critical intellectual property. Safran, on the other hand, has agreed to co-develop the entire engine under Indian ownership, making this partnership the first time India has had unrestricted access to cutting-edge jet propulsion technologies.
Paris is a natural partner in this delicate area, according to observers, who also point to France’s long-standing defense cooperation with India, which includes aid with missile navigation systems, Rafale acquisitions, and the ongoing support of Mirage-2000 fleets even after the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests.
Operationally, the engine program would support the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) and Navy’s next generation of combat capabilities. The AMCA, which is expected to be India’s fifth-generation stealth fighter, needs a thrust class that is significantly higher than what the imported F404 engines or the outdated Kaveri engines could offer.
India will be one of the select few countries having domestic fifth-generation platforms thanks to AMCA’s two 120–140 KN engines, which will provide excellent thrust-to-weight ratios, extended range, and super-cruise performance without afterburners.
The Twin Engine Deck-Based Fighter (TEDBF) of the Indian Navy, which is intended for carrier operations, will also depend on this higher-thrust system in order to support longer-range attack profiles, bigger payloads, and improved survivability against new threats in the Indo-Pacific theater.
India’s larger objective of aeronautical self-reliance is likewise in line with the engine plan. Despite having started the Kaveri jet engine decades earlier, DRDO was unable to advance it past test beds due to technical limitations.
Current operational fighters, on the other hand, are significantly dependent on imported propulsion. India has obtained partial technology transfer for the more potent GE F414 that powers the TEJAS MK-2 and signed deals with GE for 212 F404 engines, mostly for the TEJAS MK-1/MK-1A program.
However, India continued to rely on foreign vendors for crucial upgrades and lifetime support since it lacked complete access to design expertise.
In order to establish a sovereign design, development, testing, and production ecosystem for aero-engines under Indian strategic control—an area where even China, despite its rapid advancements in fighter prototypes, continues to rely on Russian power-plants or reverse-engineered copies—the Safran-GTRE project thus represents a significant correction.
The development of domestic jet engine technology holds great economic and industrial potential in addition to military advantages. High-thrust military engines have a multiplier effect on India’s aerospace and energy sectors through civilian spin-offs in auxiliary gas turbine applications, regional passenger jets, and sophisticated transport aircraft.
Leading Indian conglomerates, including Tata Advanced Systems, Larsen & Toubro, and Adani Defence, are anticipated to contribute to manufacturing, integration, and testing infrastructure, establishing a top-tier domestic supply chain. Private sector involvement will also be crucial.
If India decides to work with friendly countries looking for cutting-edge propulsion technologies, such a public-private collaboration under full IPR ownership guarantees both internal absorption and future export potential.
The program has the potential to significantly change the distribution of technical dependence from a strategic standpoint. Since only the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, and France currently have domestic jet engines, India’s admission into this select group would raise its aerospace capabilities to the level of superpowers.
Given the performance history of the 73 KN M88 engine, which powers Rafale fighters, the co-development with Safran offers a tested design heritage to work upon, but scaled to the higher thrust-class required by AMCA and TEDBF.
In addition to guaranteeing India’s independence in upcoming fighter programs, program planners think that obtaining such an engine will increase India’s bargaining power in bigger multi-role combat aircraft contracts, such the impending purchase of 114 foreign fighters for the IAF.
In the end, the Safran-GTRE joint engine program marks a turning point in India’s modernization of its defenses. India is poised to remove one of the final structural dependencies in its aerospace industry by fusing French technical know-how with Indian research, industry involvement, and strategic ambition.
If the 120–140 KN indigenous engine proves to be successful, it will set the standard for India’s fighter aviation agenda for many years to come. It will power not only AMCA and TEDBF but also upcoming upgrades and indigenous fighter generations, turning the country into a jet propulsion powerhouse unto itself.
