Engines who powers Future Indian Combat Jets

Engines who powers Future Indian Combat Jets

      HAL and ADA selected the US made Engine General Electric F 404-IN20 to powers the Home made Tejas fighter Jet. which was bought in high numbers include tot after the Home made Kaveri Failed to perform the designated power output, which having normal dry power of 53.9 kN. and 89.8 kN in full after burner mode, and the ADA and HAL officials plans for more powerful General Electric Engines to powers the Tejas MK 2 fighters for increased performance and power output, also it can increase the range of the Fighters.

     Those 99 number of Engine orders should be increased, where most fighters need nearly three to Four Engines in it's entire life, because the engines life lasts only 3000 to 3500 flying hours, even most of the LSP's already flown over 2000 flying hours, although these engines are made in India under the technology transfer from the American General Electric, the same GE F 404 engines powers the US navy's older generation F 18 fighter Aircrafts, modified GE F 404 named Volvo RM 12 is used in the JAS 39 Gripen.

     The Americans further developed the GE 404 to provide more power to their Fighter air crafts, so they modified the GE 404 and developed the advanced GE F 414  Engines who can produce more power, the power output designated 57.8 kN in dry and 97.9 kN in Full after burner, so the ADA impressed about the advanced Engine and picks up the GE 414 to power the Tejas MK2, who passed in the contend with the European Eurojet EJ 200 engine which have bit lower power output, 60kN in dry thrust and 90kN in full after burner mode, the same engines who powers the Euro Fighter Typhoon Jets, but those houses two such engines. also the F 414 also powers the upgraded F 18 Super Hornets operated by the US navy from it's carriers. who also runs with twin Engines.

   Currently the F 414 and the F 414 INS6 has been used in the F 18 E/F and the Tejas Mk 2 Fighters.

      But the ADA now hunts for even more powerful engines with good super cruise and more powerful Engines for the Home made 5th Generation fighters, the ADA and HAL plans to power the AMCA with affordable 220kN Engines, where the AMCA comes with twin engines each of them should show 110kN in full afterburner mode, but ADA didn't reveal the information about the required dry thrust power values,

     So India and US agreed to further develop the F 414 Engines to increase the power output by 110kN, both the US Navy and Indian AMCA team suggested the GE to re-mod the engine to deliver more power, the same also discussed with the US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, he confirms that he will discuss with the US officials for the Joint research in the engine development, but since months the project didn't wakeup from the discussion Tables, the US and India signed a agreement called DTTI which involves co-developments in core technology. 

     The Americans may opt for their own Pratt & Whitney engines for their Higher output needs, that's the suspected reason of the negligence of co developing the F 414 to deliver more power. the American Fifth Gen fighters like F 22 and F 35 and the F 15 uses the advanced Pratt and Whitney F 119 engines who delivers 156 kN to power the F 22, the twin engines give awesome power output of more than 300 kN to the world's finest fighter Aircraft, also the F 35 uses the Pratt&Whitney F135 who delivers 191 kN in full after burner mode, and the F 15 uses the PW F 100 who delivers 129 kN power, the twin engines gives the F 15 nearly 250 kN of power,

     But the above are all mentioned fighter Aircrafts are heavy in size and design so the tremendous powers needed to lift off the Fighters with heavy load, The Indian Su 30 MKI heavy fighter uses the Satrun AL 31FP which can produce 123 kN, and the twin engine gives nearly 245 kN power to the Indian Su 30 MKI, also the future heavy Fighter FGFA uses the more powerful Satrun AL 41 who can produces more than 150 kN, the twin engine gives more than 300 kN to the FGFA, makes similar power to the American F 22 engines power.

     But the AMCA is not the Heavy fighter, It's fall on medium Weight category like AMCA expanded as Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, so it requires medium power  but not less than 220 kN, Thats why the India need a good medium power engines, and as a surprise the lost contender EJ 200 also offer co development of the Engine to produce more than 110 kN , if Washington refuses to the co development of F 414, India opt for the European EJ  200 for the AMCA.

Su 30 MKI Engine Problem

Su 30 MKI Engine Problem

      The Sukhoi Su 30 MKI fighter aircraft is the backbone of Indian Air Force's primary air superiority and interceptor fighter. But these days the Su 30 has been facing problems from the fly by wire electronic systems to its main power plant. But till now no Sukhoi Su 30 MKI has crashed due to an Engine failure, because of its twin engines design even if a engine fails another engine will kick in helping the pilot to fly the jet back to safety. But this scenario may change drastically when the aircraft is involved in a battle scenario. With the aircraft being tailed it requires evasive manoeuvres to be performed and this can be achieved only with the thrust supplied by the two engines. Even if a single engine has failed the aircraft’s manoeuvrability is compromised to a great extent there by resulting in the loss of the aircraft.  Since these state of the art aircraft’s have been inducted to the forces two crashes have been reported and a malfunction in the aircraft's fly by wire system is said to be the main reason. Fly by wire is software which controls the aircraft's hardware with computer generated electronic signals. With repeated updates the problems with the fly by wire has been overcome and the problem with the software has drastically come down.
      Since the induction of the Su 30’s to the fleet the pilots of IAF have aired their concerns towards the engine powering the aircraft. The issues with the engine have remained unsolved for a very long time. The engine in question is the AL 31 which is currently the power unit for the aircraft. Even though the AL 31 FP has been inducted this has been crafted for improved powerful thrust. These facts were revealed in the assembly by the Defence Minister answering for a query raised by an MP towards the service availability of Sukhoi aircraft.




Service Availability

       The minister revealed the service availability of Sukhoi fleet is only 57 % which means out of the 200 Su 30 MKI aircraft's under the IAF wings only 115 Su 30 aircraft are available for active service. The minister has also promised that the fleet availability will be increased up to 75% by the year end. The same service issues are common in peace time across all the fleets; the German's euro fighter availability is less than 40%. but issue is  Most of the IAF's secondary fighters are in hangers waiting for up-gradation.



      He also mentioned that from last year the Su 30 fleet availability has seen a increase of up to 8% and has now reached up to 57%. The 75% service availability promised for the coming year is a promising sight. 80% service availability would be opt for a country like India which has an array of threats.

Engine Issue

     Making note of the persistent engine issue the minister has brought a chilling report to light. Since the last year as many as 35 engines powering as many planes have failed owing to various factors during mid flight. Reveling the factors for this problem the minister has noted the problems as.

       1. New engine elements

       2. Impure fuel

       3. Excessive vibration

       4. Low pressure in the lubricant tanks.

      Addressing to these problems during an overhaul to the basic design of the engine the Russian designers have given as many as nine new modifications to the engines which will effectively upgrade the aircraft’s performances. After these modifications are imparted on the aircraft engines failed to power up, this was mainly due to the lack of advanced and reliable engineering, applying theoretically based improvements, and fitting on the jets. Russia has supplied around 25 new modified engines towards the Sukhoi fleet under the IAF.

         Most of the soviet build fighters can fly any kind of oil. This was developed keeping in mind of using any kind of oil even impure aviation fuel. But in this scenario the engines have failed due to contamination in the fuel. This is mainly because of the higher amount of sludge present in the oil. But if this is to be true all other aircraft’s have to be facing the same issue. But this is not true the Mirage 2000 aircraft’s have maintained a very minimal amount of failure. The Su 30 and the Mirage fleet are powered by the same fuel.  The issue is found to be only with the  AL 31

Excessive vibration is a major setback if experienced during flight. This problem has to be addressed with immediate effect; this will lead to problems in blades and bearings.

      Pressure ratio in the Lubricant tank; this problem is mostly due to the improper characteristics of the fuel pressure nozzles.

        Another major issue is the engine Life. As of now each AL 31FP which powers the Su 30 MKI has a continuous service life of 500 flight hours, after the limit of 500 hours is crossed the engine would be removed from the fighter and would be overhauled in HAL's Koraput plant . A single engine can be overhauled for about five to six times after which the engine would be dismantled. Russians have promised updates in the basic engine design which would enhance the service life up to 900 hours.

     While all other parts in the Aircraft seems fine and most of the sub systems directly imported from France and Israel. but several IAF officials believes the Rolls Royce EJ 200 who powers the Eurofighter Jet or the F 404 who powers the American fleet of F 18 and Indian Tejas would make more better Variant of Su 30 MKI.

HAL Tejas with Afterburing American GE F 404 Engine

Eurofighter Typhoon with After burning Rolls Royce EJ 200 Engine

Editor Karthik Kakoor