NAL looks for partners in civil aircraft project

Bangalore: National Aerospace Labs is looking for domestic and international partners for its dream civil aircraft project, the RTA-70, which it has proposed to the Government.

The 70 to 90-seater turbo propeller-powered regional transport aircraft has been estimated to cost Rs 2,500 crore and to be developed over the next five to seven years.

It will be similar to the European ATR-42/72 or Brazilian Embraer’s CRJ, with much newer, cleaner and more efficient technologies, NAL’s Director, Dr A.R. Upadhya, said.

NAL, which turns 50 this year, is looking for partnerships with public, private and smaller international companies who can offer support in design, technology, production and marketing, he said on the eve of an International Conference on Aerospace Science & Technology it is organising on June 26-28 here during its golden jubilee year.

“As fuel costs continue to rise, jets are no longer economical” and turboprops are the way ahead, Dr Upadhya said.

The current turboprops have a 20-year-old technology and expensive to run and maintain. NAL will also develop low-cost and green technologies for the aircraft.

NAL, the country’s sole civilian aerospace lab, is also close to taking its other project, the 14-seater Saras aircraft, to flight certification in mid-2010.

Two prototypes have made over 100 flights and the third, a production standard aircraft, would be test-flown in June 2009, he said.

This version would be 500-kg lighter and weigh 7.1 tonnes at take-off.

The IAF wants to buy 35 of these planes, starting with 15. The cost of Saras, begun in 1999, would touch Rs 200 crore till production, and NAL has sought around Rs 40 crore for the third version.

Without disclosing the company’s name, Dr Upadhya said NAL had finalised the production partner from the private sector and would be signing the agreement in about a month’s time.