Even as India's homemade Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) awaits the indigenous Kaveri engine, which has been under development for more than 15 years, a Kaveri variant has been developed to power Indian warships.

The Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) in Bangalore, a laboratory under the Defense Research and Development Organization, that is developing the Kaveri engine for the LCA, has produced a turbine for warships by spinning off Kaveri technology.

Using the core of the Kaveri engine, the scientists at GTRE have added a low-pressure compressor and turbine as a gas generator and designed a free power turbine to generate shaft power for the maritime application. The 12-megawatt marine gas turbine engine will propel the Rajput class of warships.

The engine will make India self-reliant in this critical technology of gas turbines for ship propulsion because all the naval ships run on this technology. India thereby joins an elite club of marine gas turbine designers that includes Russia, the Ukraine and the U.S. However, the fate of the Kaveri engine for the LCA is still not known. The GTRE is on a global hunt for partners to help it complete the project.

A limited tender was issued by GTRE last year to Safran of France and NPO Saturn of Russia. However, no partner has yet been selected.

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