ENGINE-ering

Folks I know that everyone is fixated on Afghanistan and the resurgence of Taliban. I too was a little bit preoccupied with following the intricate details of the collapse of a military force that was trained by the self proclaimed "sole superpower" of the world. Between the countless discussions with friends, acquaintances and coworkers about the repercussions for India due to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, that's right... you read it correctly I am now employed as an engineering apprentice... (in my opinion and in their defence I don't think they have quite understood the seriousness of Taliban takeover and the complications it brings to us from a military viewpoint and aslo the history of Indian military and diplomatic actions in Afghanistan, anyway that is an article for another day) I conveniently delayed converting my thoughts into words.

Only aviation enthusiasts would have closely followed the unveiling of Russia's second fifth generation fighter aircraft which is also considered as the younger sibling of the famous Su-57. Let me introduce to you the Su-75 'Checkmate' by the world famous SUKHOI design bureau.

A fine tuned single Engin-ed derivative of Su 57, it borrows heavily from it's older sibling and also from Mig 1.44 (Soviet Union's first attempt at a stealth aircraft) in terms of design philosophy and capabilities. A curious design inspiration for the Russians seems to have come from the world famous American F-16 with respect to the chin mounted air intake (seems to have made development in the designing of serpentine air intakes). Yet one striking feature was the first ever use of a single engine fighter aircraft design by the Russian defence and military industry which has traditionally stuck on with dual engine designs due to the considerations of safety, engineering redundancy and also due to the factor that Russians had trouble catching up to modern western engine designs due to the sudden collapse of Soviet Union which impacted their defence industrial base heavily. But that seems to be a thing of the past if the present Russian design and Russian enthusiasm is taken seriously. And I am taking it seriously. I have been following the developments and one thing that Vladimir Putin has taken seriously is import substitution in the face of concerted efforts at sanctioning the Russian Federation.

The Su 75 seems to be confident to bet on the Izdeliye (Product) 30 engine developed by the famous UEC Saturn which also manufactures the Al31 and Al41 series of engines which power the Su-30 (including India's Su-30 MKI) and Su-35 warplanes. The new engine is claimed to be in the class of 170KN (wet thrust, meaning with the use of afterburner) jet engines yet it is lighter than Al41 by a whopping 30% and is 18% more efficient. Also it is designed for greater life span than it's predecessors meaning lower overall maintenance cost. And of late the Su-57 seems to be putting the new engine through all its flight regimes.

Now coming to my argument, India should take this opportunity to collaborate, collaborate and collaborate ! If we play our cards right we could reproduce the magic of Brahmos again and this time in developing a jet engine, a field where India is lacking. In hindsight I now believe that India backing out of FGFA program with Russia was a mistake, since now we are put in position where we can only buy Su-57 instead of co-developing it which would have given us unprecedented access into 5th generation fighter aircraft technology.

Combining the experience of developing the Kaveri jet engine and the Russian knowhow we could leapfrog into developing next generation jet engines. And ladies and gentlemen, it is the need of the hour as India is currently proceeding with multiple fighter aircraft programs (which includes both 4.5 and 5th generation designs) like TEDBF (Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter), Tejas Mark 2, or Medium Weight Fighter (MWF), Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).

In the case of Tejas which is considered as one of the best 4th generation light combat aircraft that can stand toe to toe with the famed SAAB Gripen, the pride of India, we have unwittingly created an Achilles' heel, which is the American made General Electric F404 IN20 engine. If the Americans were to refuse further cooperation in servicing and upkeeping of the engines the Indian Air Force would be severely hamstrung and the whole fleet of Tejas would have to be grounded (best case in point would be the Afghanistan's nascent Air Force, whose aircrafts were of no use in the dying days of the Afghan government when they were stretched beyond their limits battling the Taliban as the US abruptly stopped all support and maintenance activities due to the disorderly exit by them from Afghanistan).

So to sum it up shiny new aircrafts won't just do the job, you need to have strong military industrial and technological backing to sustain such high end weaponry. And the crux of developing an aircraft lies in it's heart which is the jet engine, considered as a core technology when it comes to developing aircrafts and the fastest way to achieve it would be through technological cooperation. If we act fast, we could reap the results early.

As of now we literally have an ENGINE-ering problem in our hands. How is that for food for thought.