India May Buy Honeywell Engine for Jaguars

22 Jun 2011 By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI DefenseNews

NEW DELHI - The Indian Defence Ministry is considering a proposal by the Indian Air Force to order 280 Honeywell F125N engines via the U.S. Foreign Military Sales route. That would make the U.S. company the winner of the $2 billion tender to supply engines for the Air Force's Jaguar fighter aircraft.

The procurement process for Jaguar engines, floated in 2008, was halted and reduced to a single vendor when British competitor Rolls-Royce withdrew from the program early this year.

The Defence Ministry is considering the Air Force's proposal as retendering the program would delay the upgrade of the British-built Jaguars, something which the Indian Air Force does not want, ministry sources said.

The ministry as a practice does not place orders in single-vendor competitions, but it will make an exception here as the Air Force has demanded that higher-thrust engines be made available as soon as possible for its 130 Jaguars .

Honeywell's F125N is a 43.8 kilo Newton (kN) thrust engine. Rolls-Royce, whose Adour Mk811 (32.5 kN) presently powers the Jaguars, had offered its Adour Mk821 turbofan.

The British engine maker pulled out of the competition because it could not meet the requirements set forth in the request for proposals, sources said.

A Rolls-Royce executive said at the time that the company was in competition only to upgrade the Jaguar's existing Rolls-Royce engine, not to re-engine the aircraft.

The Indian Air Force wants to replace the Jaguar's Adour engine with a higher-thrust engine that would allow improvements to the Jaguar's mission performance, especially in medium- and high-level sortie profiles; undertake missions that are not possible with the existing engine; reduce pilot workload; and cut maintenance costs, an Air Force official said.

As the Jaguar, which is being used for strike missions, has gotten heavier because of added capabilities, the Adour engine's lack of power has become a serious issue, the service official said.

State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) already has ties with Rolls Royce but could also work with Honeywell to re-engine the Indian Jaguars, a HAL official said.

The Air Force bought the Jaguars in 1978 for deep strike missions, and HAL began licensed production of the aircraft in the 1980s.

HAL has also upgraded of some Jaguars with avionics from French company Sextant and Israeli company Elta.