The Defence Ministry's annual report confirms the Kaveri Dry Engine as the powerplant for India's unmanned combat aircraft, even as certification of the wider programme faces delay.

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• The Ministry of Defence Annual Report 2025-26 confirms the Kaveri Dry Engine as the designated powerplant for India's Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles.
• The Kaveri is an indigenous turbofan programme run by the Gas Turbine Research Establishment, a DRDO laboratory based in Bengaluru.
• The Dry Engine is a non-afterburning variant optimised for UCAV use, with manufacturing under way through Indian industry partners.
• The First Engine to Test was integrated in July 2025, and uninstalled performance and operability testing has been completed successfully.
• The engine is being rebuilt for installed-condition demonstrations, including the staircase test that validates thrust response across incremental power settings.
• Godrej Aerospace delivered the first production-standard unit, designated D1, to GTRE in September 2025 for baseline validation.
• Later D-series variants are undergoing 150-hour endurance and altitude trials as part of a structured test roadmap.
• Cumulative testing exceeds 140 hours, including about 70 hours of ground runs in Bangalore and 75 hours of altitude testing in Russia.
• The dry engine delivers about 49-52 kN of thrust, above the 46 kN benchmark reported for the Robotic Stealth Precision Attack UCAV.
• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh witnessed a full-afterburner test of the Kaveri at GTRE on February 16, 2026, a step toward a fighter-class variant informally called Kaveri 2.0.
• The National Aero Engine Test Complex in Karnataka is being readied to support indigenous validation and reduce reliance on foreign test facilities.
• Certification of the derivative engine, earlier targeted for the end of 2026, is reported likely to move into 2027 as endurance and qualification work continues.