Ground and flight test for Kaveri engine by October this year: Antony

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which is developing the indigenous Kaveri engine for India's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), has integrated an engine with an IL-76 aircraft at the Gromov Flight Research Institute (GFRI) in Moscow for ground and flight tests.

The tests are expected to be completed by October this year, Defence Minister A K Antony told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question yesterday.

He said that testing of the engine under simulated altitude and forward speed conditions had been successfully completed in February 2010.

According to him, these two major milestones would make the Kaveri engine certified for flight operations. Meanwhile, the LCAs are, meanwhile, as decided by the user, being fitted with imported engines, he said.

Mr Antony said the technologies/production of Kaveri engine which had attained maturit during the development process were:

(i) All major engine sub-assemblies have been tested for aerodynamic performance and structural integrity (life & safety) requirements from qualification point of view.

(ii) Critical sub-systems have been developed.

(iii) Full authority Kaveri Digital Engine Control System (KADECS) has been designed and developed.

(iv) Various critical technologies in the fields of instrumentation/measurement, health monitoring, data acquisition, etc. have been developed.

(v) Twelve materials (Titanium, Steel and super alloys) have been developed and type certified.

(vi) Directionally Solidified (DS) casting technology and high temperature tip brazing technology for the High Pressure and Low Pressure turbine blades & vanes have been developed.

(vii) Adequate manufacturing technology base has been established.

According to Mr Antony, the reasons for the delay in developing the Kaveri engine are as follows:-

(i) Non-availability of critical materials, viz., nickel and titanium based alloys in the country.

(ii) Low priority from foreign manufacturing agencies in view of the Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) vis-à-vis the production order quantity from other engine houses.

(iii) Lack of manufacturing infrastructure for critical components.

(iv) Flying Test Bed (FTB) trials were not originally envisaged but included subsequently, based on the recommendations of Certification Agency and IAF.

(v) US sanctions imposed during 1998 affected the delivery of critical systems & components.

(vi) Lack of infrastructure of engine testing and component / system level testing within the country leading to dependency on foreign agencies.

The Minister said an expenditure of Rs 122.06 crore was incurred on the project in 2009-10 against an allocation of Rs 123.20 crore. The expenditure was Rs 153.54 crore in 2008-09 and Rs 152.51 crorein 2007-08, he added.

NNN