New Delhi: India has achieved a significant breakthrough in indigenous aerospace technology with the successful development of its first expendable turbojet engine in the 350 kg thrust class, marking a major step forward in strengthening the country’s defence manufacturing capabilities and self-reliance.
Designed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), the engine has been manufactured and assembled in collaboration with Hyderabad-based Azad Engineering. The completed engine was successfully realised and formally delivered to GTRE on July 22, representing a landmark achievement for India’s aerospace and defence ecosystem.
The project reflects years of collaborative research, precision engineering and advanced manufacturing between DRDO scientists and the Indian defence industry. The successful delivery also underscores India’s growing expertise in one of the world’s most complex engineering domains.
Turbojet engine technology is mastered by only a handful of countries due to its demanding requirements in advanced metallurgy, precision manufacturing and high-performance engineering. The successful development of the indigenous engine demonstrates the increasing technological maturity of India’s defence industrial base and its ability to produce sophisticated propulsion systems domestically.
The engine was formally handed over by Azad Engineering Chief Executive Officer Rakesh Chopdar to DRDO’s Director General (Aeronautical Systems), Distinguished Scientist Dr K. Rajalakshmi Menon, and GTRE Director, Outstanding Scientist Dr S. V. Ramanamurty.
Defence Secretary, Secretary of the Department of Defence Research and Development, and DRDO Chairman Rajesh Kumar Singh congratulated both GTRE and Azad Engineering on the achievement. He described the collaboration between the research establishment and industry as a model partnership that successfully transformed an ambitious vision into a historic technological milestone.
The development is expected to further strengthen India’s drive towards defence self-reliance by enhancing indigenous capabilities in advanced propulsion technologies and supporting future aerospace and strategic defence programmes under the country’s growing domestic manufacturing ecosystem.
