Pratt & Whitney To Thrust India Into High-Tech Field

The Gas Turbine Research Establishment may join hands with US engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney to build a thrust vectoring nozzle, seen as the future of fighter aircraft technology, for the Kaveri jet engine. If the tieup comes through, India would have an opportunity to launch a product along with the West, writes

US engine manufacturing giant Pratt & Whitney is in talks with the Bangalore-based Gas Turbine Research Estab-lishment (GTRE) to help build a thrust vectoring nozzle for the Kaveri jet engine which will power the light combat aircraft.

The talks could result in a memorandum of understanding by the middle of this year, official sources said. If that happens, it will be the first time that India will be involved in an evolving area of fighter aircraft research with an opportunity to launch a product along with the West.

Thrust vectoring is said to be the most important development on the jet engine ever since the advent of turbojets some 50 years ago. It means changing the direction of the engine thrust in mid-flight to achieve remarkable manoeuvrability not possible with conventional tail-rudder combination.

The worlds leading defence aerospace engine manufacturers like Pratt and Whitney, General Electric, the French Snecma and the Russian Klimov are feverishly working on thrust vectoring systems as this is certain to be the future of fighter aircraft engine technology.

The GTRE, a defence research laboratory, has been working on building the LCA engine and a civil turbofan variant to fit a 100- to 120-seater type aircraft. The fighter engine prototype has completed most ground tests and will be flight tested after the LCA completes its airframe certification.

The thrust vectoring nozzle would be for the next generation Kaveri for requirements beyond 2010. The GTRE is going ahead with the basic version of the Kaveri that will power the production versions of the LCA. An advanced version of the same fighter with a thrust vectoring nozzle but minus the rudder would be the natural upgradation, sources said. Theoretical work on the new nozzle has already begun at the GTRE.

Last year, General Electric demonstrated a multi-axial thrust vectoring engine in an F-16 aircraft. The engine, displayed at the Dubai and Farnborough Air Shows, had its exhaust nozzle turn in any direction upto 30