On Tuesday Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Rolls-Royce have signed an agreement to establish a support system in India for the highly regarded marine engines of the Rolls-Royce MT30.
The HAL-Rolls-Royce partnership will provide MT30 engine packaging, installation, marketing, and services to create a business case for the Indian Navy in which the engine can be used to power and propel its warships.
The Indian Navy, one of the biggest warship builders in the world, did not use the MT30 even for a single warship. Ukrainian Zoryas or American General Electric LM-2500 gas turbines propel most Indian frigates and destroyers.
But the MT30 engine is the most sophisticated warship in the world. The Littoral Combat Ship of the US Navy, USS Freedom, has a capacity to travel 40 knots or 75 km/hour. It is also powering all-electric destroyers of the US Navy’s Zumwalt class and is driving two new carriers of the Royal Navy: Her Majesty’s Ship Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.
The British government actively lobbied New Delhi to power the MT30 engine to the second Indian Navy (IAC-2), INS Vishal.
Rolls Royce Equipped with Custom propulsion
Like the two British carriers, for which Rolls -Royce is already equipped with a custom propulsion package, INS Vishal will be a 65,000-ton ship with 55-60 aircraft on board.
Rolls-Royce notes that the MT30 turbine has been the basis for seven major types of ships. These include the Daegu-class Frigates of South Korea, Type 26 City-class Frigates of the Royal Navy, Hunter-class Australian Navy and the Surface Combatant programme of the Canadian Navy.
“Two MT30s will be powered by the future flagship of the Italian Navy, the Landing Helicopter Dock. The new 30FFM frigates of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force will also be powered by MT30,” the web site of Rolls-Royce states.
Rolls-Royce is famous for its engines for spacecraft and land systems, but the marine engines division of the company is also a major financial recipient. To date, Rolls-Royce and HAL mainly worked on the construction of the Adour aero motors powered by Jaguar fighter and advanced Jet Trainer from Hawk.
“Rolls-Royce shares a long history of successful HAL cooperation in defence of aviation and we are glad to build up our valuable partnership with the naval gas turbine MT30,” said Rolls-Royce Defense President Tom Bell.
