India’s most consequential engine decision just gained a price tag and it runs into the billions. Indian defence outlets have reported that France’s Safran and Britain’s Rolls-Royce have submitted cost estimates to co-develop the 120 kN engine for the AMCA Mk2, with estimates of four to five billion dollars and some running closer to seven billion. The same reports indicate that India would retain full intellectual property rights under either bid, the condition New Delhi has treated as non-negotiable from the start. Neither the Ministry of Defence nor the two companies have officially confirmed the numbers, so the AMCA engine cost remains a reported figure rather than a settled one. Even so, the disclosure puts a concrete value on a programme that has so far lived mostly in ambitions rather than rupees.
The scale makes sense once you understand what India is buying. The AMCA Mk1 will fly on the American GE F414, a proven engine in the roughly 98 kN class that HAL is set to build at home. The Mk2 needs more thrust, so India wants a new 120 kN engine for it, with a foreign partner supplying the know-how to develop it at home.
Because India is funding the work, it has insisted on a full transfer of technology and ownership of the resulting IP rather than a licence to assemble someone else’s design. That single demand, more than the thrust figure, explains why a multi-billion dollar bill is even on the table. India is not paying to rent an engine. It is paying to own the ability to design one, which is a far costlier and far rarer thing. The deeper context sits in our breakdown of the race to power the AMCA Mk2.
The contest has narrowed to the two European houses and both are pushing hard. Safran builds the M88 that powers India’s Rafale fleet and reports have long cast it as the frontrunner on the strength of its technology-transfer terms. Rolls-Royce has mounted an aggressive late challenge centred on a clean-sheet design, full IP and a path toward sixth-generation and naval propulsion. In a fresh move to counter its rival, Rolls-Royce has reportedly pointed to its selection for the Dassault Falcon 10X business jet engine as proof that its design credentials remain current.
The American GE F414 still sits in the background as the Mk1 powerplant, keeping the aircraft on schedule while New Delhi negotiates the larger engine. Part of the fresh urgency traces to that engine. Reports say GE has sought prices for the F414 far above the earlier estimate of around seventy to eighty crore rupees per unit and that escalation has made the case for an indigenous engine look stronger and more affordable by comparison. That fallback still matters, because any delay on the home-grown engine pushes India back toward buying more foreign hardware, the exact dependence the Mk2 programme aims to end.
A few cautions are worth keeping in view. The cost figures and the full-IP terms come from industry reporting, not from any official release and cost estimates at the bidding stage tend to move once hard negotiations begin. Engine development is also unforgiving. Even with a proven partner the work runs well over a decade, which leaves room for the AMCA Mk2 timeline to slip toward the end of the 2030s.
What the reported estimates do confirm is the scale of India’s intent. New Delhi has stopped trying to buy an engine off the shelf and started paying to own one outright and the price of that sovereignty is now coming into focus. The choice of partner and terms, which India should settle through 2026, will rank among the most important calls it makes on its fighter programme this decade.