India explores partners beyond US to build fighter jet engines

India is engaging with manufacturers from at least three other countries for jointly making fighter jet engines, expanding its defense partnerships beyond the US as it seeks to close capability gaps amid rising regional tensions, according to people familiar with the matter.

The engines being considered are from the UK, France and Japan and India wants to start the project quickly, senior officials said, asking not to be named as discussions are private. The offers will be evaluated by the Defense Research and Development Organisation — India’s military research body —they added.

The London-based defense manufacturing giant Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC offered to jointly produce and transfer technology to India during a visit by senior defense ministry officials to the UK in April, according to one of the officials.

Talks with Safran SA also gathered momentum as the Paris-based aerospace company is open to transferring technology and sharing intellectual property rights, the people said.

Japan made a similar offer in May, they said, without indicating a possible partner.

India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with his Japanese counterpart in New Delhi earlier this month, outlining potential areas of collaboration, including tank and aero engine development.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs, along with the defense ministries of both India and Japan, did not respond to requests for comment. The companies mentioned in the story also did not reply to queries.

The engines will power India’s twin-engine fighters that are under development, the people said, adding the Ministry of Defence will move to get government clearance soon.

India has been seeking to modernise its air force through the purchase of jet fighters from overseas and bringing production to within its borders through joint projects with leading weapons makers from abroad.

Earlier this week, India for the first time allowed domestic private firms to design and develop advanced warplanes to replace its aging, mostly Russian-made fleet.

The South Asian nation has also been in talks with Boston-based General Electric since 2023 to jointly make GE F414 engines but the talks are taking longer than expected. India had imposed penalties on GE last year for severe delays in the delivery of engines that power the country’s locally-made single-jet fighters.

India’s Air Force Chief AP Singh warned at an industry event Thursday that delays in procuring critical weapons pose a serious challenge to national defense readiness. “Not for a single project that I can think of that been completed on time,” he said, emphasising the need for India to design, develop, and produce weapons domestically in sufficient numbers.

India’s push to manufacture jet engines reflects its broader effort to secure the supply chain for critical defense equipment — a major take away of the military from the war in Ukraine which is on its third year.

Joint manufacturing of jet engines with the US is part of a wider effort to deepen bilateral defense cooperation. India’s decision to look beyond Washington for critical technologies should not be seen as a sign of strained ties with the US, but rather as evidence of its focus on securing reliable supply chains.

Separately, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been trying to ramp up domestic defense production to reduce the costs of imports and generate jobs at home.

India is the world’s largest importer of arms, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, adding it has looked increasingly to purchase weapons from makers in the US and France.