SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
A former employee of India’s Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), speaking anonymously to idrw.org, has delivered a scathing assessment of ongoing negotiations with France for the joint development of a 110kN engine to power the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). Likening the talks to “speaking to a dead wall,” the ex-official cautioned that France’s track record on Technology Transfer (ToT) casts serious doubts on its reliability as a partner, accusing French officials of overpromising and underdelivering in past engagements—a pattern that could jeopardize India’s fifth-generation fighter ambitions.
Drawing from firsthand experience, the official recounted an early 2010s effort to co-develop a hybrid engine combining India’s Kaveri with France’s Safran M88, used in the Rafale for the Tejas program. According to the source, the ToT offered by the French was “insignificant and low-tech,” confined to non-critical, peripheral components while Safran sought to retain Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) over the M88-2 engine’s core—the heart of its performance. “They wanted the majority of the core-section IPR to stay with them,” the official said, noting that GTRE was forced to abandon the talks due to this impasse. The lack of meaningful progress left a bitter taste, reinforcing skepticism about France’s willingness to share substantive technology.
The Proposed M88-2-Kaveri Hybrid engine was limited to 83-85 KN of thrust, that was inadequate for the Tejas MkII’s 90-96 KN requirement, restricting its use to the Mk1. Additionally, Safran’s (formerly Snecma) insistence on a 300-engine minimum order for joint development clashed with the IAF’s goal of a universal engine for both the Mk1 and the proposed 15-ton MkII (now its 17.5-ton)
The ex-employee also revisited a supposed “technical audit” of the Kaveri engine conducted by a French team in the context of the 2016 Rafale deal. While the French cleared the Kaveri for inflight testing, the official dismissed their contribution as overstated. “Most of the issues, especially the clutter problem in the core, were fixed by GTRE much before their audit,” they asserted, suggesting that the French endorsement was more performative than pivotal. In contrast, feedback from General Electric (GE) during subsequent collaborations proved instrumental in resolving lingering challenges, further highlighting what the official sees as France’s limited value-add.
The critique takes on added weight as India negotiates with Safran for a new 110kN engine to power the AMCA, a stealth fighter critical to its future air dominance. The former GTRE insider expressed incredulity at France’s latest overtures, noting, “They weren’t keen to offer ToT for a fourth-generation engine back then, and now they’re proposing fifth-generation collaboration—when they haven’t even developed a fifth-gen engine themselves.” Unlike the U.S., with its operational F135 (F-35) and adaptive engine programs, or Russia’s Izdeliye 30 (Su-57), France lacks a proven fifth-generation powerplant, relying instead on the M88, a 75kN-class engine from the 1980s. This gap, the official argued, undermines France’s credibility as a partner for a cutting-edge project like the AMCA.
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