Rolls-Royce is preparing to significantly expand its industrial presence in India, unveiling a strategy that places the co-development of a next-generation combat aircraft engine at the core of its long-term engagement with New Delhi. The British aerospace major has signalled that India is set to become its third global “home market,” alongside the United Kingdom and the United States/Germany, marking a major shift in the company’s global manufacturing and innovation footprint.
Sashi Mukundan, Executive Vice President of Rolls-Royce India, confirmed that the company is planning a “big investment” aimed at anchoring advanced design, engineering, and manufacturing capabilities in the country. At the centre of this push is the indigenous development of a high-performance propulsion system for India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), the fifth-generation fighter programme expected to form the backbone of the Indian Air Force’s future combat fleet.
Mr Mukundan said Rolls-Royce is keen to support India’s requirement for a powerful, next-generation engine tailored specifically for the AMCA. He described the programme as far more than a single aviation project, arguing that it could act as a catalyst for India’s broader ambitions across aerospace, defence manufacturing, and naval propulsion.
A key element of Rolls-Royce’s pitch is a niche but strategically important technical capability: the ability to “marinise” an aero engine. This process involves adapting the core of a fighter jet engine for use in marine gas turbines, which power modern naval warships. According to Mr Mukundan, Rolls-Royce is among a small group of global manufacturers with proven experience in this complex engineering domain.
He explained that if India partners with Rolls-Royce on the AMCA engine, the same core technology could be leveraged to develop indigenous propulsion solutions for the Indian Navy’s future surface combatants and hybrid-electric vessels. This dual-use potential, he said, dramatically enhances the strategic value of the AMCA engine programme.
“If India is thinking about next-generation engines, Rolls-Royce is probably the best partner,” Mr Mukundan said, pointing to the company’s long-standing involvement in Indian defence programmes. He stressed that Rolls-Royce has a track record of executing complex co-development projects while transferring high-end engineering skills to partner nations.
Central to the proposed collaboration is the transfer of critical technologies and the creation of new intellectual property within India. Mr Mukundan said the entire design phase of the AMCA engine could be carried out domestically, with all resulting design IP jointly owned by India. He described ownership of design IP as the foundation of genuine strategic autonomy.
“Once you own design IP, you have strategic control,” he said, noting that it allows a country to independently upgrade, modify, and develop future variants without external constraints. Manufacturing, he added, is the next and more challenging phase, requiring a carefully structured, safety-first approach, particularly in military aviation.
Beyond combat aircraft, Rolls-Royce sees growing relevance for electric and hybrid propulsion systems in naval platforms. These systems are fundamentally built around marine gas turbines derived from aero engine cores. Mr Mukundan said Rolls-Royce’s expertise in adapting jet engines for maritime use offers a decisive advantage for India, where naval engine volumes alone may not justify a fully independent supply chain.
By co-designing the aero engine core in India, he said, an “overlapping supply chain” could be created to serve both aerospace and naval sectors. This shared ecosystem would improve economic viability while strengthening India’s industrial base across multiple strategic domains.
The AMCA-linked proposal aligns with broader moves by Rolls-Royce to deepen ties with Indian defence public sector undertakings. The company is reportedly finalising Memorandums of Understanding to manufacture engines for the Arjun Main Battle Tank and the Future Ready Combat Vehicle programme. These efforts follow a high-profile meeting in October 2025 between Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgic and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where India was described as pivotal to the company’s future growth.
If realised, this multi-sector partnership could represent a decisive step in India’s pursuit of sovereignty in high-performance engine design, manufacturing, and lifecycle support across air, sea, and land platforms.
