United States based General Electric (GE) has submitted a proposal to Indian Government for the co-development of a 110 kN thrust engine which is most likely to be used to power the MK-2 variant of India’s futuristic fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) fighter jet. Earlier, owing to US unwillingness to share core or hot engine knowledge, a previous proposal for collaboration on jet engine technology under the India-US Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) was suspended in October 2019. Further, besides the GE proposal, two other bids namely from Safran of France and Rolls Royce of the UK is also being considered for collaboration on the AMCA engine. There are potential alliances among the three competitors. The program is likely to involve a private Indian organization in addition to the principal agency, the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
