New Delhi, July 30 (IANS): The indigenous Kaveri engine, which has missed the date to power Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), will now be used to fly an Indian unmanned combat aircraft.

"So far, total expenditure incurred on development of Kaveri engine is Rs.2,101 crore. Aero engine developed by DRDO has not achieved the required thrust to power LCA," Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said.

"Therefore, it has been decided to use Kaveri derivative engine without after burner for powering Unmanned Combat Aircraft," he said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The minister said project for development of Kaveri engine was sanctioned in 1989 with probable date of completion of 1996, which was extended to 2009.

Giving the reasons for non-completion of the project within the time schedule, he said technological difficulties faced during development due to complexities of engine system.

He said total of nine Kaveri prototypes and four Kaveri Core Engine prototypes have been developed and accumulated more than 2550 hours of engine testing.

The Kaveri engine was also integrated with IL-76 Aircraft and flight tested.