A clean-sheet engine for AMCA: Safran agrees unprecedented tech transfer to India
November 26, 2025
Safran, the French manufacturer of the M88 engine that powers the Rafale, has agreed to go far beyond its earlier proposal to India for a locally modified or derivative engine.
After years of stops, restarts and negotiation, the company has now committed to co-developing a brand-new jet engine with India and to transferring the complete set of technologies required to build and maintain it.
India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has confirmed that the intellectual property for the new powerplant will be fully Indian.
The decision marks a sharp departure from Safran’s original offer, under which it would have provided an India-specific M88 variant. Instead, the engine now on the drawing board will be designed from scratch, tailored to the performance requirements of future Indian combat aircraft and developed as a joint programme with full access to the most sensitive technologies, including hot-section materials and turbine architecture.
Safran chief executive Olivier Andries has described the agreement as one that goes well beyond assembly or licensed manufacture. Speaking to The Economic Times, he said the company had agreed to a “complete transfer of technologies” for the fighter engine, including the critical hot section.
“We, along with the DRDO, are basically going to develop a new engine together in India,” he said, calling it a unique proposal in the market.
AMCA’s future engine: The technology transfer India has sought for decades
The new engine is being developed for the second tranche of the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), India’s planned fifth-generation stealth fighter. Early AMCA prototypes will fly with GE F414-INS6 engines under a separate programme, but later batches are expected to transition to the Indo-French powerplant.
DRDO officials say the engine will fall in the 120–140 kilonewton thrust class and include design features required for long-range, high-altitude and low-signature operations. Crucially, the hot section and core technologies, areas foreign suppliers have historically held back, will be transferred in full.
This reflects lessons from the long-running Kaveri project, which failed to meet performance requirements and lacked access to critical technology. The new Indo-French agreement is intended to avoid those bottlenecks, establish a domestic propulsion capability and reduce reliance on foreign suppliers.
Read more: AMCA race begins – 7 firms bid to build India’s 5th-generation stealth fighter
A $7bn Safran–India engine partnership to build domestic fighter propulsion capability
The engine partnership is expected to run for over a decade and cost around ₹610 billion ($7 billion), placing it among the largest aerospace development programmes India has undertaken. The plan includes multiple prototypes for flight testing by the end of the decade and certification in the early 2030s.
The economic scale is matched by its industrial ambition. Under the agreement, Indian engineers will work directly on turbine design, single-crystal blades, thermal management and composite materials, skills considered essential for future propulsion programmes.
For New Delhi, the programme is about far more than a single fighter jet. A fully developed engine ecosystem would allow Indian designers to pursue unmanned aircraft, sixth-generation concepts and export-focused platforms.
Why India’s joint Safran engine is key to AMCA and future airpower
Every modern Indian combat aircraft relies on foreign propulsion, whether Russian, American or European. Engines are among the most expensive components over a fighter’s lifetime, especially when maintenance and spares are factored in.
By jointly creating a new engine and owning the resulting IP, India aims to break the cycle of foreign dependence that has shaped its previous fighter programmes. The AMCA will be the immediate beneficiary, but officials say the new powerplant is designed as a modular family, suitable for follow-on aircraft and potentially unmanned systems.
The engine deal also sits alongside other high-technology ventures. As Andries noted, Safran has supplied key testing and communications equipment for Chandrayaan-3, reflecting a broader technology partnership that spans defence, civil aviation and space.
Safran and HAL established the Safran HAL Aircraft Engines joint venture in Bengaluru in 2022 to manufacture components for the LEAP engine as well as the M88 that powers the Rafale.
“Safran and HAL have had a long-standing relationship enriched over the past few decades through the joint development of the ‘Shakti’ helicopter engine, which also paved the way for co-design and co-development of the IMRH engine,” said Dr D. K. Sunil, Chairman and Managing Director at HAL. “We are delighted to take this collaboration to the next level and to support their LEAP engine production with critical Nickel Ring forgings.”
Read more: Inside HAL – how India’s aerospace giant is driving self-reliance from fighters to space
Safran grows its presence in India with new engine and MRO facilities
The engine project sits within a wider expansion by Safran in India. In Hyderabad on 26 November, the company inaugurated its largest global maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) centre for the LEAP engine, which powers most new-generation narrowbody airliners. The 45,000-square-metre facility will support the rapid growth of LEAP-powered fleets across the region.
Alongside it, Safran is establishing the first M88 engine overhaul centre outside France. The shop will service engines for India’s Rafales as well as export customers. Safran chairman Ross McInnes said the company now plays a role across both civil and military sectors in India, from Rafale and Mirage engines to helicopter programmes with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
Safran CEO Olivier Andries has said the expansion reflects the company’s view of India as a major and fast-growing aviation market, with plans to triple revenue in the country by 2030 and significantly increase local sourcing.
How the Safran partnership is creating India’s indigenous propulsion ecosystem
Safran’s cooperation in India extends far beyond manufacturing. The company is building new engineering centres, avionics facilities and technology hubs. A joint venture with Bharat Electronics Limited will manufacture the Hammer air-to-surface weapon domestically, integrating it on Rafale and Tejas fighters.
Together, these initiatives are helping create the aerospace ecosystem India has sought for decades, one that combines engine development, civil aviation support and defence manufacturing within the country rather than through imports.
The development timeline for the Indo-French fighter engine is long and carries technical risk. But the shift from a derivative M88 offer to the creation of an all-new engine signals India’s intent to secure propulsion autonomy and places Safran at the centre of that effort.
If the programme stays on track, the first prototypes could be running toward the end of the decade. For New Delhi, the payoff is clear: control over a critical technology available to only a handful of nations, and a future fighter fleet powered increasingly by engines built on Indian soil.
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