New Delhi, June 23 (KNN) The American firm General Electric on Thursday announced signing of an MoU with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to jointly produce fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The MoU between the two sides is being considered as one of the big highlights of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ongoing state visit to the US.

The American firm in a statement said that the agreement with HAL includes the potential joint production of GE Aerospace’s F414 engines in India.

To receive the necessary export authorisation, the GE Aerospace is working with the US government. The deal between the American firm and HAL will officially be signed once it gets clearance from the US Congress.

Once cleared, HAL will carry out the work at its Engine Division facility in Bengaluru and the co-production will not be through a joint venture, the sources said.

As reported by ThePrint, ToT for jet engines was the main thrust of National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval’s talks with his American counterpart Jack Sullivan in February when they also operationalised the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET). 

The F414 engine, which is an afterburning turbofan engine in the 22,000 pound (98 KN) thrust  class of engines, was shortlisted by India in 2010 to power the Mark II version of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, which currently comes with GE F404 engine. 

Once the engine production starts in the country, the F414 engine will power all future fighter jets including the Tejas Mk II and the indigenous Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) for the Indian Navy.  (KNN Bureau)