The UK is committed to make its biggest capability transfer in its history as part of the UK-India plan to co-create a jet engine to Indian specifications, said Alex Chalk, UK minister for defence procurement.
Addressing mediapersons, Chalk said there were currently five nations that have this (jet engine) technology. “…India will be the sixth and it will be a sovereign make-in-India capability. The UK already has a headstart on it and spent two years in intensive work including going through the concept phase,” Chalk said.
The United Kingdom wanted to broaden and deepen its relationship with India in defence area, especially with the air force, British High Commissioner Alex Ellis said at the Aero India 2023.
Chalk said there were a lot of technical issues discussed among scientists, and in simple terms – it has to do with fuel burn within the engine, giving the aircraft more thrust, range and power. “There is a part of the engine that can monitor temperatures within the engine that makes it more powerful and have better endurance,” he said, elaborating on the technical collaboration UK and India will work on.
Stating that India is an important pillar of rules-based order, Chalk said to achieve that, it needs military capability. “That is the context for this significant step we are taking in India. The Rolls Royce deal would be a pivotal moment in the UK-India relationship. As a matter of fact, Rolls Royce’s civil capability in India can be used to help accelerate the progress on the military side. If the Rolls Royce deal goes ahead, the sky’s the limit in terms of future jet engine technology,” he said.
The minister said as the Russian invasion of Ukraine is nearing a year, global leaders have learnt lessons – one of which is to have a resilient supply chain with reliable partners. For instance, he said, it’s important to have complex supply chains that are resilient, so people who wish to do harm are not involved in it.
