Work on transport aircraft begins in Bangalore

Bangalore: Defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd has just begun work at Bangalore on the $600-million (Rs 2,400-crore) medium multi-role transport aircraft with Russia’s Ilyushin Design Bureau.

The work on the 60-tonne, 70 to 90-seater plane for military, convertible later into passenger plane, has just taken off as an equal venture with a team of 30 people from HAL, its Chairman, Mr Ashok K. Baweja, told a news conference. The approvals and the funding have come in and the product may take seven to eight years. The plane is meant to replace the aged Russian-made Antonov-32s for both the countries.

“We want to grow in the large transport aircraft arena. We are also addressing the steps for making civil aircraft such as the Embraer ERJ jets,” Mr Baweja said.

Rotary UAV:

HAL is about to start work on a $35-million rotary UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) programme. The programme in tie-up with Israel’s IAI will take off this month and the product may take two to three years to come out.

The third and fourth versions of the ALH are to follow in a couple of years and the combat copter LCH that is under development will do its first flight by this year-end. The first HAL-assembled Hawk advanced jet trainer aircraft under licence from BAE Systems will be delivered to IAF soon, he said.

Turnover:

HAL posted 7.2 per cent higher turnover year-on-year at Rs 8,350 crore and net profit of nearly Rs 1,500 crore, up nearly 30 per cent for the year 2007-08. The turnover has doubled in three years, Mr Baweja said.

Sales growth was lower than in the previous years as HAL has faced problems importing the critical raw material required to make some of the aircraft it has developed. “It could have been Rs 500-600 crore more” by turnover, he admitted. PBT was 23.28 per cent high at Rs 2,148 crore and exports touched Rs 325 crore.

Tech Denied:

HAL was denied the carbon fibre much needed to make its helicopters. “People don’t give you the critical parts that you need,” he admitted, recalling that the light combat aircraft programme also faced similar challenges in the wake of the May 1998 Pokhran nuclear test.

Indigenous aircraft projects such as the advanced light helicopter and its offshoot, the light combat helicopter, require special composites, carbon fibre, maraging steel, titanium and aluminium alloys among others.

Thanks to the crunch it has faced in raw material supply, HAL is trying to meet its demand from within the country. While the National Aerospace Labs has a carbon fibre programme, “We should also have a national strategy for [special] alloys” that go into the aircraft, Mr Baweja said.

With the order book showing a robust Rs 45,100 crore, HAL looks set to touch a turnover of Rs 10,000 crore during the current year. It has also got a Rs 23,315-crore order to supply 159 advanced light helicopters for the armed services.

The company, now a navaratna PSU, has a capital expenditure plan of Rs 600 crore for the year, mainly for machinery upgrades. It is also exploring tie-ups with a few large aerospace majors to pursue the defence offset opportunities as well as for its growth.