The primary observation relates to Technology Transfer to assist or plug-in some of the gaps that continue to afflict DRDO’s Kaveri engine development program. The agency involved here is Safran, which is the engine group and includes Snecma, the engine manufacturer. MBDA has also been mentioned for lack of progress.
Safran’s problem appears to be related to two issues, type of technology that is demanded and the costs. This is not the first time that Safran and DRDO are engaging on the Kaveri issue. In 2007, DRDO and Safran had arrived at an agreement for assistance in Kaveri engine development.
However, as the proposal emerged it was realised that Safran’s assistance meant that it would replace the Kaveri engine core with Snecma engine core, thus effectively killing the Kaveri work done in the past 25 years. Besides, technology assistance is more of a handholding than real…