India has made a landmark move towards its defense independence by finalizing a historic alliance with France’s aerospace giant, Safran, to co-design and produce advanced fighter aircraft engines in India. The deal worth approximately ₹61,000 crore (around $7 billion) will propel India’s future fifth-generation stealth fighter the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA)mand is among the largest defence technology partnerships in recent times.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, speaking at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum, formally confirmed that the project has proceeded, terming it a milestone on India’s path to developing next-generation engines domestically. This vision was further echoed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Independence Day celebrations when he invited indigenous fighter jet engines to be the “crown jewel” of the Atmanirbhar Bharat defense program. For India, which has been relying for years on foreign-made propulsion systems for its own Tejas, Sukhoi, and Mirage fleets, the partnership is a breakthrough years in the coming.
What makes this partnership historic is Safran’s pledge of complete technology transfer and intellectual property sharing. That implies India will receive access to pivotal know-how—turbine blade design, cutting-edge cooling technologies, hot-end metallurgy—domains hitherto kept as closely held secrets in international defense. In contrast to earlier joint ventures, which limited India to licensed manufacturing, this project means the nation builds authentic in-house capabilities, allowing it to look forward to long-term engine design, upgrades, and manufacturing independence.
The new engine will be designed as a clean-sheet design and not a derivative of the current models such as Safran’s M88 that is found on the Rafale. It will produce around 75 kN of dry thrust and up to 120 kN when afterburning, which is suitable for AMCA’s stealth and supercruise applications. The roadmap includes ambitious targets: prototype engines within 2027, first flight tests by 2028, and eventual induction into AMCA squadrons by the mid-2030s. In the meantime, early prototypes of AMCA will use American GE F414 engines, but the Safran engine is planned to substitute them when fully ready.
Strategically, the agreement is extremely significant. With this engine program, India lessens its reliance on foreign providers, increases its negotiating position in international defense, and announces its entry into an elite club of countries with the capability of producing high-thrust fighter plane engines. It also diversifies Indian partnerships, balancing relationships between American, Russian, and now French suppliers, thus lessening exposure to geopolitical fluctuations. The action further beefs up India’s future export prospects because future AMCA fighters powered by locally developed engines would be attractive to friendly countries looking for advanced but cost-saving alternatives to Western planes.
To India’s defense planners, this project is not just about technology—it is about sovereignty, resilience, and readiness to the future. By owning the sophisticated science of jet propulsion, India is positioning itself not only to address its own defense requirement but to become a major force in the global aerospace industry. With rising regional security competition, particularly with China developing its own stealth fighter projects, India’s partnership with Safran will be a game-changer.