L&T likely to fuel space exploration plans of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin

Jeff Bezos-owned firm sourcing engines based on Artemis Accords

India’s largest engineering firm Larsen & Toubro is in preliminary talks with American billionaire Jeff Bezos-owned space exploration firm Blue Origin to supply orbital launch capabilities, such as liquid rocket engines, besides providing space habitat solutions.

L&T Defence, which has a sizable defence and space business, is already supplying solid fuelled engines to the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) from its Coimbatore facility. “We are in talks with Blue Origin for possible collaboration in the orbital launch capabilities, leveraging individual expertise and manufacturing prowess. At present, we are making hardware for solid engines for Isro at our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility,” Arun T Ramchandani, EVP & head of L&T Defence, said in an interview.

Blue Origin was set up to develop low-cost, reusable launch vehicles and in-space systems to meet the needs of its civil, commercial, and defence customers.

“Blue Origin’s efforts include flying astronauts to space on New Shepard, producing reusable liquid rocket engines, developing an orbital launch vehicle with New Glenn, building next-generation space habitats, and returning to the surface of the Moon,” according to information on its website.   

New Glenn is a heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle in development by Blue Origin which is named after Nasa astronaut John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth.

India recently became the 27th country to sign the Artemis Accords and this opened up more cooperation between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and Isro. The Artemis programme is lined up by Nasa and other countries with an aim to return humans to the moon by 2025 and expand space exploration to Mars and beyond. “We see opening up and potential for industrial cooperation in the space segment,” Ramchandani said.

In new ‘space’

• India signed Artemis Accords with US govt on June 21
• Under Artemis programme, NASA, together with commercial and international partners, aims to establish a sustainable presence on the Moon to prepare for Mars missions
• The accord has opened up cooperation between the US and Indian firms like L&T in space exploration
• L&T Defence is already supplying solid-fuelled engines to Isro

The Accords is a non-binding agreement between the US government and other governments involved in the Artemis programme and was launched by the US in 2017.

Ramchandani said there is a lot of excitement in both India and the US following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent state visit to US. “The future looks very promising for both defence and aerospace sectors. The potential changes on reciprocal defence procurement agreement and security of supply arrangement and easing of US regulations could be a game changer as the Indian defence ecosystem could now buy, co-produce, and be part of the US supply chain,” he said.

L&T has signed a master ship repair agreement, valid for five years, with the US authorities for repairs, alterations, and overhaul of US Navy vessels. “There are about 150 US Navy ships operating in the Indo-Pacific region, so it’s a big opportunity for us. As we move forward, we expect to be qualified for repair and refit of ships of Australia and UK navies,” Ramchandani said.

The Indian defence production is expected to grow from the current levels of Rs 1 trillion to Rs 1.75 trillion by 2025.

Ramchandani said L&T would bid for the P-75i submarine project of the Indian government. “We have tied up with Spanish firm Navantia for the programme and our shipyard at Kattupalli, fabrication facilities at Hazira, and strategic systems complex at Pune manufacturing weapon and engineering systems, would be an integral part of the programme,” he said,

RFPs (request for proposals) for a number of coast guard vessels, next generation corvettes, frigates, destroyers, and landing platform dock -- expected to be in tune of Rs 1.5 trillion -- are coming up in the near future and private yards like Kattupalli will be eligible to bid for these programmes, he said.

To promote R&D in defence, the Indian government can incentivise investments in R&D through tax benefits, ensuring 25 per cent of the government defence R&D fund flows into industry, start-ups and academia, and providing supportive IP (intellectual property) regimes. “The Indian government has recognised the need to support and sustain the domestic defence sector. To foster the overall growth of the sector, it is crucial to develop the entire MSME (medium, small & micro enterprises) ecosystem,” he said.