रूस में कावेरी इंजन की टेस्टिंग: लंबी दूरी के ड्रोन में लगेगा; तेजस में लगाने का प्लान था, देरी के चलते अमेरिकी इंजन लगाना पड़ा

Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is testing indigenously developed Cauve Jet Engine in Russia. It will be used in long distance Anmand Air Vehicle (UAV) i.e. drone made in India. Defense officials said that about 25 hours of tests are yet to be done on the Kaveri engine. Testing will be done when the slot is received.

It is a low bypass, twin spool turbofan engine with 80 Kilonuton (KN) Thrust (Power). It has been designed flat-rated to reduce the power loss of the engine during high speed and high temperature.

In this technique, the engine is fixed to its thrust limit maximum point low. Apart from this, twin-lane Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) system has been installed for better manual control.

Initially, the Cauvery engine was planned to install indigenous light combat aircraft (LCA) like Tejas, but due to the delay in the program, the American engine GE-404 was installed in Tejas. GE-404 has been used in Tejas Mark 1 and 32 aircraft of Twin Citter Trainer version. GE-404 will also be installed in its Mark 1A version.

Officials said that there is a plan to install a LCA aircraft to show the capacity of the Cauvery engine. DRDO is working with a foreign firm to create a more powerful engine for future aircraft, including the Mark-2 version of the 5th generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).

India’s indigenous fighter aircraft programs include developing LCA Mark 1A, LCA Mark 2 and AMCA.