Article Posted on : - May 03, 2011

The Kaveri aircraft engine. A file photo

NEW DELHI (PTI): India’s indigenously-built Kaveri engine for military aircraft has successfully passed a series of tests on a Russian Il-76 aircraft recently using it as Flight Test Bed (FTB) at a Russian facility.

“The recently conducted tests were a significant step towards operationalisation of Kaveri engine.

“A Russian Il-76 transporter was used as the FTB to conduct 11 successful trials totalling over 20 hours till April,” Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) spokesperson said here Monday.

Elaborating on using Il-76 as FTB, he said, “Kaveri was replaced with one of the four engines of the Il-76. The tests were carried out up to 12 km maximum altitude and a maximum forward speed of 0.7 Mach and under different operating conditions.”

Developed by Bangalore-based Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) under DRDO, the engine recently passed ground tests before being transported to Gromov Flight Research Institute in Russia for simulated flights and FTB trials.

So far, India has spent over $455 million in last two decades to develop the engine which was first designed to fly the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas. A major setback occurred when it could not generate desired thrust to make the aircraft airborne.