Rolls-Royce has reaffirmed its strong commitment to co-developing the jet engine for India's Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), pushing back against reports that questioned its involvement.

The British aerospace giant emphasised that it remains actively engaged and continues to put forward its offer through the UK government, aligned under the Defence Partnership–India (DP-I) initiative announced at Aero India 2025.

Rolls-Royce aims not only to deliver a next-generation engine but also to enable India's long-term strategic autonomy in gas turbine technology by co-designing and co-developing the engine entirely in India, with full transfer of technology, know-how, and intellectual property rights (IPR).

This approach seeks to build a robust indigenous aerospace ecosystem supporting current and future defence programs beyond AMCA itself.

The company positions its offer as faster and more efficient than historical standards, drawing from its experience in the UK’s sixth-generation Tempest fighter program.

However, Rolls-Royce is currently awaiting formal clarifications and a Request for Proposal (RFP) from India, as technical requirements such as engine size, role, and performance are still being defined by Indian authorities. Rolls-Royce stated it will continue engagement until explicitly told otherwise.

The renewed partnership is also supported by wider India-UK relations, including the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) which facilitates trade in aerospace sectors by reducing tariffs. Rolls-Royce highlighted opportunities for expanding aerospace supply chains in India, including plans to double aerospace supply chain output and potential establishment of maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facilities to support civil aviation and defence, building on existing collaborations with HAL and Indian airlines.

Despite Rolls-Royce’s strong bid, India’s AMCA engine program also has significant competition, notably from France’s Safran. Safran reportedly leads in meeting the Indian Air Force’s desired accelerated timeline for the AMCA MK-2 engine and won preference partly due to shorter development cycles and operational synergies with India’s Rafale fleet.

Safran and Rolls-Royce have both offered full technology transfer and IPR ownership, but Safran’s ability to meet the production schedule by mid-2030s is viewed favourably by Indian defence policy planners.

Nevertheless, Rolls-Royce’s proposal distinguishes itself by emphasizing full Indian ownership of the engine intellectual property from scratch (not based on an existing Eurojet platform), a complete transfer of "know-why" and "know-how," and readiness to establish production and testing facilities in India. This clean-slate approach underlines Rolls-Royce’s commitment to India’s strategic autonomy in aerospace propulsion technologies.

Rolls-Royce presents its AMCA engine offer as not merely a defence contract but a key enabler of India’s long-term self-reliance in aero-engine technology, reinforced by strengthened UK-India defence and economic partnerships, ongoing supply chain integrations, and potential future collaborations on advanced combat aircraft programs.

This detailed strategic and technical commitment by Rolls-Royce reflects its view that the AMCA engine project is a cornerstone for building future aerospace capabilities in India within the framework of Vision 2035 and enhanced bilateral policy dialogues under India-UK Defence Industrial Road Maps. The decision now awaits formal government clarity and subsequent phases of the technical and industrial partnership processes.

Based On MoneyControl Report