India Plans New Indigenous Airliner

India’s first civilian aircraft, the plan for which was approved by a high-level committee on manufacturing headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently, may be based on the same platform currently being used to develop a military transport aircraft.

 

The move is expected to reduce the time taken to design and develop an aircraft from scratch, the Telegraph of India reports.

 

The 90-100 seat aircraft will be built by a collaborative venture of National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), state-run organizations, and private partners.

 

At present, HAL manufactures aircraft and helicopters for military use under licensed production agreements with foreign vendors.

 

However, aviation analysts point out that HAL has already entered into a joint venture with Irkut Corporation of Russia to develop and make 60tonne multi-role transport aircraft (MRTA). Under the pact, Ilyushin Design Bureau of Russia will design the MRTA, and HAL and Irkut will manufacture it in Kanpur.

 

For almost two decades, India has been trying to develop its own civilian aircraft. Experts believe that even if the work on the aircraft starts soon, it will take at least another 10 years for it to fly. One way to reduce the time is to incorporate military research in the development of the civilian transport plane.

 

According to the proposal, the design and development of the aircraft is expected to cost Rs 43.55 billion and the series production will require an additional Rs 32 billion at current costs.

 

Lockheed Martin, which is supplying Hercules aircraft to the Indian Air Force for heavy lift duties, has tied up with the Tatas to build sub-assemblies here, while Reliance has a tie-up with France’s Dassault to make aircraft parts that could eventually lead to the manufacturing of Falcon series business jets. These ventures could be engaged for the civilian aircraft.

 

Russia is also keen on partnering India in its initiative to design and develop a regional transport aircraft, a separate venture. United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Russia’s state-owned civil and military plane manufacturer, has offered to set up joint development and manufacturing facilities in India, officials say.

 

UAC manufactures a range of aircraft from the 100-seat Sukhoi Superjet to the 436-seat IL-96-400M plane and a wide variety of fighter jets.