India to engage Pvt Company to hike efficiency of LCA Cavery engine

Bangalore, Dec 22 (UNI) India has already held discussions with some competitive engineering private companies to increase the efficiency of Cavery engine to be fitted to country's first indigenously developed fly-by-wire Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

Disclosing this to newsmen here, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister M Natarajan said the engine had already achieved nearly 95 per cent of efficiency and various tests had been successfully completed lasting around 1500 hours. The machine had been sent for high altitude test in a laboratory in Russia. To increase the effiiency to its optimum level, discussions were on, he added.

Asked whether the GE would be selected in this regard, he replied in the negative. However, this had nothing to do with the production of LCA and it would go on. He added saying that the Cavery engine would be manufactured indigenously by 2010.

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