Another article on the same by Mr. Thakur:
Kaveri Engine: Drowning in Failure, GTRE Desperately Clutches at Straws?
Initially sanctioned in 1989 as LCA power plant, the Kaveri is still undergoing flight certification 23 years later, with a thrust that is woefully short of LCA requirements.
The engine has been dropped as prospective power plant for the LCA because of it's thrust deficit, but GTRE is keen to push ahead with the development of the engine in order to... justify its existence!
After the initial de-linking of the Kaveri from the LCA, a desperate GTRE proposed the Kaveri as power plant for ships, even railway engines.
Chastised by the CAG for wasting government funds on the Kaveri, MOD has decided to continue development of the engine as a technology demonstrator engine for the LCA, still hopeful of retrieving some of the investments in the project.
Luckily for GTRE, the Kaveri project has been dropped a lifeline by DRDO's near quixotic ambitions and a questionable international regime - the MTCR - which prohibits sale to another country of technology that maybe used in a missile or unmanned vehicle exceeding 300 km in range.
Yet to successfully implement the LCA project, the DRDO has embarked on the development of a UCAV matching the capabilities of the X-47B and nEuron. The Indian analog is called Unmanned Strike Air Vehicle (USAV).
The MTCR precludes the import of a powerplant for the USAV, so GTRE has proposed a dry thrust only variant of the Kaveri on the USAV.
In a statement to Parliament on December 10, 2012, Defense Minister AK Antony confirmed that a Kaveri variant would be used to power the USAV, which incidentally was also the first time the GOI acknowledged the existence of the USAV.
On December 25, 2012, Business Standard reported that the decision to use the Kaveri as the USAV power plant was prompted by the engine's relatively good performance when operating without reheat during its flight testing.
During testing at the Gramov Flight Test Center, the Kaveri had demonstrated a dry thrust of 49.2 KN against a designed 51KN. With reheat the thrust deficit was substantial; 70.4 KN against the designed 81 KN.
UCAVs use unreheated engines in order to minimize their heat and noise signatures. Also, the thrust requirement for the USAV is more modest.
"Since the USAV will weigh less than 10 tonnes, the Kaveri's 50 KN will suffice. And, with the afterburner removed, we would significantly reduce the weight of the Kaveri," a top DRDO scientist told the Business Standard.
The DRDO plans to tweak the Kaveri to remove shortcomings noticed during its flight testing, ground test the engine at GTRE, send it back to Russia for flight testing and certification, and then fit it on a LCA (PV1) for more flight testing.
"After extensive ground testing at GTRE, the Kaveri will go back to Russia for flight-testing to ascertain that all the problems have been solved. This is essential for airworthiness certification. Finally, we will test the Kaveri in the single-engine Tejas fighter," said Dr CP Ramnarayanan, Director, GTRE.
GTRE has sought a sanction of Rs 595 crore from MoD for developing the "dry thrust only" versions of the Kaveri engines. The money will be utilized to build two prototypes at a cost of Rs 50 crore each and send them to Russia for flight testing, which cost Rs 80 crore back in 2010-11 and is likely to cost even more now.
"We will take 48 months from the date we get clearance from the government, for completing 50 hours of testing the Kaveri on the Tejas LCA. During the last 12 months, we will actually fly the Tejas with the Kaveri," added Ramnarayanan.
Stealthy UCAV with an Unstealthy Engine?
There is one big problem with using Kaveri dry to power the USAV - the engine is not designed for a low RCS aircraft. USAV, it is claimed, will be a stealthy UCAV. Typically, stealth aircraft powerplants use shaped intakes to prevent enemy radar from reflecting off their compressor blades. Also, the engines are designed to operate with shaped exhausts to reduce stern radar and heat signature The design changes for a stealthy engine are not trivial. Three years after it started test flying the T-50, it's fifth generation fighter, Russia has yet to fit a stealthy powerplant on it. GTRE inspires little confidence with its ability to incorporate these engines without killing the engine.
Kaveri as LCA Mk 2 / AMCA Power Plant?
GTRE has held talks with SNECMA of France to co-develop and co-produce a 90 kN thrust class upgraded Kaveri engine.
The proposed engine will be based on Snecma's 'Eco' engine core and serve as the power plant for LCA Mk II and AMCA.
It is claimed that the SNECMA variant of the Kaveri, referred to as K-10, will match the performance of the F414 and EJ2000 throughout the flight envelope of Tejas.
So far the K-10 project has made no progress, one reason being SNECMA's own skepticism about GTRE's ability to absorb the 'Eco' engine technology.
Kaveri Engine: Drowning in Failure, GTRE Desperately Clutches at Straws?
