GE begins deliveries of F404 engines to India

GE Aerospace has said that it faced challenges in restarting the production of the F404-IN20 engine due to supply chain disruptions posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. (GE Aerospace)

General Electric (GE) Aerospace has said that it has started deliveries of the first of 99 contracted F404-IN20 engines to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Tejas Mk 1A Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme.

HAL seeks the delivery of 12 engines in 2025. An HAL source told Janes on 27 March that GE Aerospace handed over the first ordered F404-IN20 engine to HAL representatives in the United States on 25 March. “We expect this first engine to arrive in India in April 2025, following inspections and checks,” the HAL source said.

The 99 engines constitute HAL's second known order of the F404-IN20 powerplant.

In a statement, Shawn Warren, general manager, Combat and Trainer Engines, GE Aerospace, said that by 2016 GE Aerospace had “delivered 65 F404-IN20 engines” for the earlier Tejas Mk 1 programme. “With no additional engine orders on the horizon, the production line for F404-IN20 was shut down,” he added.

HAL's subsequent order of the 99 engines in 2021 for the follow-on Tejas Mk 1A programme prompted GE Aerospace to begin “the complex task of restarting the F404-IN20 production line, which had been dormant for five years”, Warren said.

This meant “re-engaging” the powerplant's global supply chain, which Warren said was “challenged” by the disruptions posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. “Our proprietary lean operating model, Flight Deck, helped us alleviate bottlenecks and identify solutions to improve manufacturing processes and turnaround time,” he said.