India's long-delayed Kaveri engine makes flight debut

India has successfully flight tested its Kaveri jet engine using an Ilyushin Il-76 transport as a testbed.
"The engine was tested from take-off to landing and flew for a period of over 1h up to at an altitude of 6,000m [19,700ft] at a speed of Mach 0.6 in its maiden flight," says India's defence ministry. "The engine control, performance and health during the flight were found to be excellent."
The test took place at Russia's Gromov Flight Research Institute near Moscow.
As of last year, India's state-owned Gas Turbine Research Establishment had spent 20 billion rupees ($455 million) over the 20-year programme, but produced a powerplant that was overweight and that failed to provide the 21,000-22,500lb (93-100kN) of thrust required for the Indian air force's Tejas light combat aircraft. Details of the engine's thrust output during the Moscow test have not been disclosed.
10/11/10 Greg Waldron/Flight Global

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Categories: Foreign Nov 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Nov 2010, New Nov 2010