14 - 08 - 2026

Reliance, Rolls-Royce to develop combat engine for India’s AMCA fighter jet

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India’s largest private sector company, has entered into a partnership with Rolls-Royce to develop indigenous combat engine for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).

The two companies announced their strategic intent on Friday, August 14, 2026, to partner and offer capabilities for the design, development, manufacturing, and delivery of a sovereign indigenous combat engine for India’s fighter jet programme. As part of the partnership, RIL and Rolls-Royce will explore the formation of a dedicated Aerospace Gas Turbine Complex, which will serve as a centre of excellence for power and propulsion technology in India.

“India’s strategic autonomy requires sovereign capability in critical technologies,” said Anant Ambani, Executive Director of RIL. “Our intent with Rolls-Royce is to combine their world-leading expertise in advanced propulsion with RIL’s technology, manufacturing, scale and execution capabilities to build an indigenous aero-engine ecosystem in India.”

Ambani added that the goal is to build an enduring national capability that can make India self-reliant and, over time, globally competitive in advanced propulsion technologies, contributing to the vision of an Atmanirbhar Viksit Bharat.

“Together, with our existing partnerships and capabilities in India, this marks a major milestone towards building a robust, self-reliant aerospace ecosystem in the country,” Tufan Erginbilgiç, Chief Executive Officer of Rolls-Royce said.

Comprehensive sovereign capabilities

By integrating Rolls-Royce’s global engine leadership with the industrial strengths of Reliance, the planned Aero Gas Turbine Complex will build end-to-end Indian capability across design, development, manufacturing, testing, production, and through-life support.

The alliance aligns with India’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative for technology indigenisation, aiming to help position the country as a global leader in advanced propulsion. The venture will also unlock opportunities to explore wider collaborations across defence, civil aerospace, and new power and propulsion systems.

What’s AMCA

AMCA is India’s flagship project to design and build an indigenous fifth-generation stealth fighter jet for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy. Spearheaded by the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Aeronautical Development Agency in collaboration with domestic industrial partners, the twin-engine aircraft is engineered for multirole missions—including air dominance, deep strikes, and electronic warfare. 

Built around advanced capabilities like geometric stealth, internal weapons bays, supercruise, and artificial intelligence-assisted sensor fusion, the AMCA is intended to replace aging platforms and bolster national defence autonomy. While early production models are slated to rely on imported engines, long-term plans focus on powering future variants with a jointly developed, sovereign high-thrust engine to establish end-to-end self-reliance in military aviation.