By Ajit Dubey
New Delhi [India], July 15 : Critical commercial negotiations between India and the United States for the GE-414 jet engines are ongoing, and the project is expected to be finalised by March next year.
The negotiations are ongoing, and we expect to sign the deal for the GE-414 engines by the end of this financial year, defence officials said here.
The programme for getting the jet engines is part of the LCA Mark 2 project, which is planned to be inducted into the Indian Air Force in the next four years.
The deal has been pending for a long time as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and American GE Aerospace have been discussing the project, which would see the engines getting manufactured in India, they said.
Meanwhile, India received the second GE-404 engine from the US on Monday for the LCA Mark 1A fighter jet aircraft programme, Defence officials said.
The engine has been received by the Public sector firm Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), and it is expected to receive 12 more GE-404 engines by the end of this financial year.
The engines will be fitted on the LCA Mark 1A fighter jets. The delivery of the engines had been delayed by more than a year due to supply chain issues faced by the American engine manufacturing firm.
The Indian Air Force has placed orders for 83 LCA Mark 1A fighter jets, and a proposal to buy 97 more of these planes is at an advanced stage, following clearance from the Defence Ministry, officials said.
Earlier this year, GE Aerospace delivered the first of 99 F404-IN20 engines to HAL for the Light Combat Aircraft Mk 1A fighter jet.
The HAL is planning to integrate the engines with the Mark1A fighters and supply over 10 of these planes to the IAF.
Recently, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister PK Misra had visited the HAL facilities in Bengaluru and received the LCA Mark 2 project along with the Mark 1A programme.
The LCA Mark 2 project is expected to replace the ageing fleet of Mirage 2000, Jaguar, and MiG-29 aircraft around 2035.
Over 400 indigenous LCA aircraft are expected to be built by India, utilising American GE engine variants, within the next 10 years.