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India Issues RFI for Engine Test Complex, Facility To End India's Foreign Engine Testing Dependency

| Mar 24, 2026, 10:14:04 AM | TOI.in
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India has been working on an indigenous jet engine for fighter aircraft since 1982. Four decades of effort and significant public investment have produced repeated delays and a situation where the country still cannot certify a high-thrust combat engine on its own soil, because it lacks the test infrastructure to do so. That foundational problem is now being addressed. DRDO's Bengaluru-based Gas Turbine Research Establishment has issued a Request for Information to global and domestic firms to help establish a National Aero Engine Test Complex at Raman Nagar in Karnataka, a comprehensive, independent ground-based testing facility for aero engines and their critical sub-systems. The complex will enable full engine testing and component-level evaluation of fans, compressors, combustors, turbines and afterburners, while simulating real-world operating conditions including high-altitude environments up to 40,000 feet, extreme temperatures and pressure variations entirely within Indian control. Currently, India ships prototype engines to Russia, France and the United States for high-altitude, afterburner and advanced sub-system trials, incurring costs, delays and security risks, and creating dependency on relationships that can change. The strategic imperative is clear. India is building the Tejas Mk-2, developing the AMCA, clearing the Ghatak UCAV, and exploring entry into sixth-generation fighter programmes. Every single platform needs an engine. Every engine needs a place to be tested safely, secretly and entirely within Indian control. The NAETC is that place. Four decades late — but finally being built.

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