In a move that could alter the strategic balance of India’s aerospace and defense industry, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and France’s Safran Aircraft Engines signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The deal, focused on co-developing and producing military engines in India, is more than a handshake between two corporations—it signals a structural shift in India’s journey toward defense self-reliance and its broader aspirations to become a global aerospace power.
Traditionally, India has been a buyer in the global arms bazaar—importing engines from the United States, Russia, and France to power indigenous and imported platforms alike. Whether it was the MiG series powered by Russia’s Klimov engines or the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) dependent on General Electric’s F404, the pattern was clear: innovation abroad, integration at home.
But with the Safran-HAL MoU, the script is changing. HAL will not just assemble engines—it aims to develop them.
Specifically, the deal sets the groundwork for assembling the Safran M88 engine—currently powering France’s Rafale jets—and producing critical components in India. More significantly, the collaboration will focus on developing high-thrust engines (110 kN and above) to power future aircraft, including the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), India’s stealth fifth-generation fighter.
This represents a fundamental break from the past: no longer just absorbing foreign tech, India is now aiming to co-create it.
The timing of the Safran-HAL MoU is no accident. It aligns directly with the Indian government’s greenlighting of the AMCA Programme Execution Model—a new industrial framework that encourages private and public sector collaboration in high-stakes defense programs.
This Execution Model isn’t just a bureaucratic rebranding. It’s an open door for private industry—previously sidelined in the domain of fighter jet production—to claim a stake in a sector long monopolized by public behemoths like HAL and DRDO.
And it’s working.
Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), and Adani Defence are already playing critical roles in aircraft subassembly, radar systems, and structural components. With Safran entering the fray, the pathway is being paved for end-to-end capabilities in design, development, and production—engines included.
India’s inability to produce a reliable jet engine has been its Achilles’ heel in aerospace development. The Kaveri engine, a project initiated in the 1980s, has spent decades in gestation with little to show in terms of operational readiness.
Contrast this with the U.S., which fielded the Pratt & Whitney F135 for the F-35 Lightning II, or France’s Safran, which has powered generations of Mirage and Rafale jets.
The lack of engine self-sufficiency has compromised not just India’s independence, but its credibility as a defense exporter.
Herein lies the significance of Safran’s involvement. The M88 is a battle-proven engine. Mastering its production offers HAL a real-world blueprint for building its own high-thrust variants—potentially resolving the Kaveri conundrum and delivering an indigenous engine capable of powering the AMCA.
India’s defense manufacturing was for decades an exclusive domain of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). While HAL and DRDO made pioneering contributions, their record was marred by inefficiencies, missed deadlines, and cost overruns.
The Tejas LCA program is a textbook case.
Started in the 1980s, the project aimed to replace the aging MiG-21 fleet with an indigenous lightweight fighter. Yet by 2025, HAL had delivered only 36 out of 40 Tejas Mark 1 aircraft, with the upgraded Mark 1A also facing delays due to supply chain issues and dependency on GE engines.
Recognizing the bottlenecks, the government initiated structural reforms. Private players were invited to shoulder responsibility—and bring in efficiency.
TASL’s C295 transport aircraft facility in Vadodara and its composite structure contributions to Tejas Mark 1A are tangible outcomes of this strategy. Similarly, Adani Defence’s collaboration with DRDO signals a growing confidence in non-state actors to deliver strategic hardware.
These developments are more than capacity augmentation—they’re foundational to creating a vibrant, competitive, and innovative aerospace ecosystem.
Despite its sleek profile and agile performance, the Tejas fighter is a cautionary tale in what not to do.
Development delays. Foreign engine dependency. Limited production capacity.
The root of the problem? HAL’s legacy manufacturing systems and a fragmented supply chain. The addition of private partners is beginning to ease these issues, but systemic reform is still required.
The Safran-HAL MoU offers a way out of this quagmire. If HAL can internalize Safran’s best practices in engine assembly and lifecycle management, it could ripple out into other programs like the Tejas Mark 1A and Mark 2.
In fact, Safran’s engineering discipline, forged in the fires of NATO-standard aerospace development, could serve as the scaffolding India needs to climb to the next level.
India’s most ambitious aerospace project yet—the AMCA—aims to field a fifth-generation stealth fighter by 2035. But the dream doesn’t stop there. With adversaries like China racing ahead with the J-20 and J-35, India must leapfrog directly into sixth-generation capabilities.
This means more than radar-absorbing materials or supercruise engines. It means AI-assisted mission systems, optionally manned operations, directed-energy weapons, and drone swarms. Technologies that are as futuristic as they are expensive.
AMCA’s success hinges on one thing: propulsion. Without an indigenous high-thrust engine, AMCA will be grounded—or worse, beholden to external suppliers.
Safran’s technologies—single-crystal turbine blades, advanced cooling systems, variable-cycle engines—could be the missing pieces of this puzzle. If the French company commits to deep tech transfer, India could find itself capable of producing not just AMCA engines, but engines for UCAVs and future hypersonic platforms.
The HAL-Safran partnership isn’t just industrial—it’s geopolitical.
France has emerged as one of India’s most consistent strategic allies. From Mirage 2000s in the 1980s to Rafale jets in the 2010s, the relationship has grown stronger, even as India diversifies away from Russian systems and maintains transactional ties with the U.S.
By deepening its engagement with France—especially in sensitive areas like engine tech—India hedges against future geopolitical shocks. In the increasingly volatile Indo-Pacific, strategic autonomy is not a luxury; it’s a necessity.
The engine deal also gives France a long-term stake in India’s defense market, aligning both countries’ industrial and strategic interests for the next several decades.
As promising as the Safran-HAL partnership appears, the road ahead is fraught with challenges.
Technology Transfer: France will understandably be cautious. Military engine tech is closely guarded. India must negotiate skillfully to secure not just blueprints but the know-how to absorb and evolve them.
HAL’s Absorptive Capacity: Even if Safran opens its books, can HAL read them fluently? The state-owned company must revamp its organizational culture, invest in talent, and streamline production lines.
Ecosystem Development: Engines are not standalone systems. Materials, sensors, electronics—all must mature in parallel. The ₹20,000 crore increase in India’s defense R&D budget is a start, but long-term planning is key.
Execution Discipline: Lessons from Tejas must not be repeated. Delays, scope creep, and inter-agency friction must be ruthlessly eliminated.
The Safran-HAL MoU may look like just another bilateral agreement, but it’s actually a strategic accelerant.
It fuels India’s self-reliance agenda. It elevates the role of private industry in aerospace manufacturing. It addresses the Achilles’ heel of engine dependency. And it lays the foundation for future platforms like AMCA and sixth-generation jets.
If executed well, it could transform India from a defense importer to a design-and-export power. Fighter jets powered by engines built in India, flying off runways in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America—this is no longer a pipe dream.
