Source : IgMp Bureau
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A New variant of the American afterburning turbofan engine called F414-GE-400 that can generate 116 kN class of Thrust, which is way more than its current predecessor F414-INS6 (98 kN) will be available from 2024-25 onwards for the United States operated F-18E/F Super Hornet fleet and same will be made available for all the existing operators of the F414 powered jets in plug and play configuration without requiring any changes to the air intake or any need for modification to the lower rear fuselage of the aircraft or its engine bay.
In 2021, GE Sales officials made a presentation on the new engine variant to Indian officials that is currently under development at the request of the US Navy and the same will be offered to all prospective clients. India already had placed orders for 99 414-INS6 (98 kN) engines to be used for the Tejas Mk2 program and had received 12 units initially to be equipped on the first few Tejas Mk2 and prototypes of the AMCA that are to be used for developmental flight trials.
GE claims F414-GE-400 has lower fuel burn, increased bleed air for avionics cooling, and double horsepower extraction for electrical growth and could be an excellent engine for aircraft like next-generation AMCA where the power requirements are on the higher side. India had planned to equip the first 2 squadrons with an F414-INS6 engine with later 5 squadrons equipped with a new 110-120kN class of engine to be jointly developed by India and France.
For time being it is just a proposal and it is highly likely all prototypes of AMCAs will be powered by the F414-INS6 engines that will provide adequate data to decide if the shift to F414-GE-400 engines for the production variant of the AMCA Mk1 will help in improving the combat capabilities of the jet since this jets will go in production from 2029-30 onwards and will only switch to new Indo-French engine sometime after 2040.
