Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance will build fighter jet engines with Rolls-Royce

Reliance Industries, the conglomerate controlled by Mukesh Ambani, will partner Rolls-Royce Holdings to design and build combat engines in India, taking the country's largest company into military aviation for the first time.

The two companies announced their intent on Friday in a joint statement issued from London and Mumbai, covering the design, development, manufacturing and delivery of a sovereign indigenous combat engine for India's Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft programme. The AMCA is India's effort to build a fifth-generation stealth fighter without relying on foreign propulsion technology.

Neither company disclosed financial terms.

The partners also intend to explore setting up a dedicated Aerospace Gas Turbine Complex in India, which would function as a centre of excellence for power and propulsion technology and handle design, testing, manufacturing and long-term support in one place.

Anant Ambani, executive director of Reliance Industries and the youngest son of the founder, fronted the announcement.

"India's strategic autonomy requires sovereign capability in critical technologies," he said. "Our intent with Rolls-Royce is to combine their world-leading expertise in advanced propulsion with Reliance's technology, manufacturing, scale and execution capabilities to build an indigenous aero-engine ecosystem in India."

He said the partners aim to build a national capability that could make India self-reliant in advanced propulsion and eventually competitive internationally.

Tufan Erginbilgiç, chief executive of Rolls-Royce, framed the agreement as an extension of work the British group already does in the country.

"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," he said.

Engine technology has been the persistent obstacle in India's fighter programme. Building a combat jet engine requires metallurgy, thermal management and precision manufacturing that only a handful of countries have mastered, and India has depended on imported powerplants for its combat aircraft. The AMCA cannot enter service without a domestic solution or a foreign supplier willing to transfer the technology.

New Delhi has been putting money behind the effort. The government earmarked 15 billion rupees, about $157 million, in May to accelerate development of the aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

Rolls-Royce has been positioning for this since late last year, when it signalled plans for substantial investment in India covering both jet engine and naval propulsion programmes, including electric propulsion capability for the Indian Navy.

The venture takes Reliance into a sector it has not previously operated in. The group's interests run across energy, petrochemicals, telecommunications, retail, media and financial services, and it has spent recent years pushing into artificial intelligence through Reliance Intelligence, formed in partnership with Google, alongside preparations for an initial public offering of its telecoms arm Jio, which has passed 500 million subscribers.

Anant Ambani's role in the announcement carries its own weight. Mukesh Ambani has been distributing responsibility among his three children, with Isha Ambani running retail and Akash Ambani chairing Jio, and the defence partnership places the youngest at the head of the group's newest business line.

Forbes estimates Mukesh Ambani's net worth at $89.9 billion in real time, making him the wealthiest person in the Asia-Pacific region.