Cost spike in GE’s engine hits AMCA programme

NEW DELHI: India’s negotiations with US’s General Electric (GE) over the F414 fighter jet engine have hit a roadblock after the cost of the proposed US engine for India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) rose sharply, raising concerns about timelines for the country’s most-ambitious fifth-generation fighter programme.“The F414 engine was initially estimated to cost around Rs 70-80 crore per unit, but GE has now quoted prices almost three times higher,” a DRDO source told TOI. Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), nodal agency for AMCA project, requires 15 F414 engines for five flying prototypes. As ADA has frozen the airframe design of AMCA around the engine, GE knows that India’s engine options for its new stealth aircraft are limited.