POWER TO PROPEL

NINETY YEARS AGO, Frank Whittle, a cadet at the Royal Air Force College in Cranwell, submitted a proposal for a turbojet engine.

- BY AIR CHIEF MARSHAL V.R. CHAUDHARI (RETD)

It was a simple centrifugal flow compressor engine that earned him his first patent. Just a few years later, a German, Hans Von Ohain, developed the first axial flow turbojet engine. These two engine developments gave both countries the first jet powered aircraft, the Gloster Meteor and the Messer-schmitt Me 262, that saw combat in the last year of World War II.

Almost 60 years ago, we began the design and manufacture of two jet aircraft, the Marut and the Kiran. These indigenously designed and built aircraft, as also the Tejas, have been powered by imported engines. We have had the licence to manufacture engines for the Jaguar, Hawk and the Su-30MKI, but 'build to print' has not provided the necessary technology to be able to 'build to design' our own aero engine.

Today as we march towards becoming a self-reliant nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared that we will build our own aero engine. Almost four decades ago, a beginning was made by GTRE (Gas Turbine Research Establishment) to develop the Kaveri engine. The efforts of the teams behind the engine are laudable, but the desired outcome has been evasive for multiple reasons. As we redeem our pledge to design and develop our own engine, we need to look at disruptive strategies. The recently announced collaboration with French company Safran is a welcome step.