Jet engine tech sharing offer big, says US Secretary of Air Force Frank Kendall

The US offer for sharing of jet engine technology is a 'breakthrough' and there is a shared desire to move ahead on projects under the defence technology and trade initiative, US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall has said. The senior official also said that there are talks currently on to sign a new agreement for sharing of information between the US and Indian Air Forces.

Kendall, who was closely involved with formulating the DTTI in a previous stint with the Obama administration, said that an offer on the table by General Electric (GE) to share technology has to go through some more processes but is 'very much a step in the right direction'.

He was referring to ongoing talks between India and the US for collaboration to power the next generation of Indian combat aircraft. India has been looking for partners to develop an engine that provides at least 110 kn thrust and would be used for future projects like the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft and Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter.


In January, the US administration had announced under the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) that an application has been received from GE to jointly produce jet engines in India and committed to an 'expeditious review' of the same.

Talks with France on developing the engine have been on since 2016 but no definitive progress has been made while the UK has been making a push to co-develop the engine under a government to government umbrella, even offering credit of full IP of the product to India.

The US, which in the past had reservations over sensitive technology transfer, is in discussions to leverage on its contracts for the Tejas LCA. American engines have been selected for a Mk2 version of the jet as well as the initial batch of Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, giving GE a strong advantage over competitors from the UK and France.