williams wrote:Well, we are already dependent on their engine. So if there is some tech cross-pollination that can help our own engine dev, then that is better than nothing. The centrality of the problem is not tech access (it is only one of the factors), It is about some serious funding that GoI is ready to put on the table for such a tech development. If GoI is serious, then our tech guys are quite competent to draw knowledge and develop what we want. After all, we built a space program and a nuke sub-program from nothing.
Nuke/nuke-sub all these are excellent programs no doubt but we don't know how they rate in comparison with their peers. As of now they are check boxes - we have nukes, we have a nuke sub for delivering them but are they really at the forefront of technology? We don't know and we don't need to know. This technology has been around for ages in the west, USSR and even with China.
Space is somewhat different in that the program is much more transparent; we are extremely cost efficient but we still don't have heavy haul capability. Here we lag the US by like 50 years, and yes there is probably less need for such capability today. Again, kudos to our scientists and engineers for accomplishing on a shoestring budget what they have done.
Another example is supercomputers. Back in the day when we were denied access to supercomputers, our engineers strung together racks of commodity processors and built something which could be used for large scale computations - weather, nuclear simulations etc. But we didn't build a true high performance microprocessor rather worked our way around. Again, great engineering but the capability gap still existed and exists.
Now for jet engines. Here, efficiency counts for a lot. There is a huge technology stack that goes into the blade, and expensive equipment that is if you can get your hands on one. Think ASML lithography machines and technology denial regimes. Do we need to be so efficient? Unlike in the space and nuke programs where efficiency is not paramount, it is mandatory for fighter jet aircraft - efficiency gives you the power at lower weight and can be the deciding factor in a battle where the opponent has better tech.
A lot of aerospace innovation can still be done without cutting edge tech, such as less demanding jet engines, helicopters, turboprob cargo and small passenger aircraft, and of course fighters with imported engines. Ideally we should be able to have a fallback engine, even if it is only 90% as "good", to be used in case of technology denial.