T Suvarna
Raju , CMD Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
(HAL) has said India is ready to export LCA Tejas in Future. Raju also said
that with the ramping up of LCA Tejas from 8 to 16 aircraft per annum and with
outsourcing and participation of private players HAL will be able to speed up
export process. Exporting is a bit too
ambitious at this stage considering there are so many projects that are delayed
or have been delayed due to bureaucratic red tapism, lack of funds, inability
to find skilled labour, frequent changeg in designs etc
Interestingly
HAL has plans to manufacture a 3 ton class Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) with
engines at Karnataka. On May 31 this year HAL successfully conducted the maiden
flight of the first prototype Basic Trainer Aircraft HTT-40. About 80% of
indigenous content has been used.HAL has also taken up indigenous development
of various UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Systems). Hal is also jointly developing
rotary UAV with IIT Kanpur and MALE UAV RUSTOM II with Aeronautical Development
Establishment (ADE).
Marred by
project delays and issues of Request for Information (RFI), Request for
Proposals (RFP) and Transfer of Technology (ToT), licensing issues with Russia,
United States, India’s defence sector especially HAL is currently undergoing
massive transformation, a natural corollary to Modi’s frequent visits to other
countries and subsequent discussions with his counterparts on defence and
security. The revised Defence Procurement Policy is also being projected as the
game changer. However financial, political and strategic investments in
projects meant to modernise India’s defence industry exhibit a very uneven
path. Whether it is the MMRCA, Tejas or AWACS statistics reveal that India is
yet to achieve a great breakthrough in defence, compared to China or Pakistan
as in the case of AWACS.
The Cabinet
Committee on Security has time and again sanctioned several projects, but
uneven investments have often defeated the very purpose of rapid military
transformations, to tackle new asymmetrical threats. If statistics provided by
the defence ministry are to be believed, India has signed five deals of more
than Rs 2,500 crore since May 2014. Projects for Tactical Communication Systems
(TCS), Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) (worth $ 7.5 billion) for the
Indian Army, construction of seven Shivalik class frigates (Project 17 A) for
the Navy, by Mazagon Docs Limited and Garden Reach Steel Industry, amounting to
Rs 45201 crores are currently under consideration. HAL is currently in the
process of building basic trainer aircraft HTT 40 and Sukhoi MK 1 aircraft in
line with the 272 target set for 2018 by the Indian Air Force. There are
several such deals being planned. But deadlock over Rafale continues to make
headlines. Meanwhile, reacting to the commercial deadlock over Rafale prices
with Dassault, other players such as Lockheed Martin (F 16), Saab (Gripen) are now
streamlining their business strategy, to meet the requirements of the Indian
industry under Make in India. Saab is willing to partner with Indian companies,
giving India complete software control to build the Gripen fighter in India.
Saab is also keen on setting up an aeronautic training academy in India.
The Indian
Establishment says that the value of the
aerospace "self-reliance" initiative was not simply the production of
an aircraft, but also the building of a local industry capable of creating state-of-the-art
products with commercial spin-offs for a global market. The LCA programme was
intended in part to further expand and advance India's indigenous aerospace
capabilities.
In the
early eighties, it was realised that no organisation existed which had the
total capability to develop such an aircraft all on its own. The last time an
indigenous fighter aircraft, the HF 24 flew was in 1961. Since then, the HF 24
assembly line had been shut down and the design team had been wound up. The
only way left was to develop an aircraft from scratch.
To better
accomplish these goals, the government of India in 1984 decided to establish
the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) to manage the LCA programme.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, (HAL) was to be the principal partner with
participation of various DRDO & CSIR Laboratories, Public & private
sector industries and academic institutions.
It is still
too early to talk about the confluence of events that will lead to export of
TEJAS but right now talking about export is not a wise idea.
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