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HAL, BAE study JV to make Hawk jets
Indias state-run aircraft maker, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), and BAE Systems Plc., UKs largest defence company, are in talks to set up a joint venture (JV) to manufacture the Hawk advanced jet trainers in India for the global market.
HAL already manufactures Hawk under licence from BAE for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Both firms are doing a feasibility study for the joint venture, which would also focus on doing repair and overhaul of the Hawk aircraft, sold by BAE Systems worldwide, wrote Ashok K. Baweja, chairman of HAL, in an email to Mint.
More than 900 Hawk aircraft are in use among various air forces to train pilots in the advanced fast jet (AFJ) phase of conversion or before they begin to fly supersonic fighters such as the MiG-21 and Mirage 2000.
A BAE Systems Hawk jet fighter trainer. BAE and HAL are doing a feasibility study for a joint venture, which would also focus on doing repair and overhaul of the Hawk aircraft.
A BAE Systems Hawk jet fighter trainer. BAE and HAL are doing a feasibility study for a joint venture, which would also focus on doing repair and overhaul of the Hawk aircraft.
Baweja did not elaborate, and a spokesperson for BAE in the UK couldnt be reached for comment. A HAL spokesman said the JV proposal was in an initial stage and further details would emerge only after a feasibility study is completed. He declined to set a timetable.
If the venture takes off, it will give access to global technology and (provide a) higher level of expertise for HAL, said N.S. Sisodia, director at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, a strategy and security studies think tank based in New Delhi.
While HAL has rights for repair and overhaul of the Hawk aircraft, following a contract with BAE signed in 2004 for 66 advanced jet trainers to train IAF pilots, it hasnt done so.
Under that deal, worth nearly Rs8,000 crore at that time, BAE would supply 24 Hawks in flyaway conditions, with the remaining 42 aircraft to be made under a technology transfer licence at the Bangalore factory of HAL.
In November, the first two British-built Hawk arrived in India. These trainers will be used for stage-III training for newly commissioned fighter pilots of the IAF at Bidar in Karnataka from June.
The Hawk aircraft manufacturing activities have already commenced and the first aircraft would be delivered to the IAF by March 2008,said Baweja.
The remaining aircraft are scheduled to be delivered by May 2010.
We learnt from the Jaguar experience and inserted a clause for global rights (for Hawk), said a retired HAL official who was involved in negotiations with BAE but did not want to be named.
In the 1990s, BAE refused permission for HAL, which also produces the Jaguar planes under licence, to sell them to Bahrain as it didnt have the right to do so, the former official added.
In 2004, HAL completed designs for a homegrown combat attack trainer, or advanced jet trainer that doubles as a fighter, but scrapped the project after the IAF did not approve it.
The public sector defence aircraft company has a homegrown Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT), used for stage-II training of pilots, that is behind schedule by two years because of delay in procuring a suitable Russian engine.
The initial operation clearance of IJT is now planned by end-2008, said Baweja.
Two prototypes of the IJT, powered by a French engine from Snecma, have completed 371 test flights.
HAL had revenue of Rs7,505 crore as of March, while BAE had revenue of £13.76 billion, or Rs1.08 trillion, for the year ended December 2006.
HAL, BAE study JV to make Hawk jets - livemint
Indias state-run aircraft maker, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), and BAE Systems Plc., UKs largest defence company, are in talks to set up a joint venture (JV) to manufacture the Hawk advanced jet trainers in India for the global market.
HAL already manufactures Hawk under licence from BAE for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Both firms are doing a feasibility study for the joint venture, which would also focus on doing repair and overhaul of the Hawk aircraft, sold by BAE Systems worldwide, wrote Ashok K. Baweja, chairman of HAL, in an email to Mint.
More than 900 Hawk aircraft are in use among various air forces to train pilots in the advanced fast jet (AFJ) phase of conversion or before they begin to fly supersonic fighters such as the MiG-21 and Mirage 2000.
A BAE Systems Hawk jet fighter trainer. BAE and HAL are doing a feasibility study for a joint venture, which would also focus on doing repair and overhaul of the Hawk aircraft.
A BAE Systems Hawk jet fighter trainer. BAE and HAL are doing a feasibility study for a joint venture, which would also focus on doing repair and overhaul of the Hawk aircraft.
Baweja did not elaborate, and a spokesperson for BAE in the UK couldnt be reached for comment. A HAL spokesman said the JV proposal was in an initial stage and further details would emerge only after a feasibility study is completed. He declined to set a timetable.
If the venture takes off, it will give access to global technology and (provide a) higher level of expertise for HAL, said N.S. Sisodia, director at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, a strategy and security studies think tank based in New Delhi.
While HAL has rights for repair and overhaul of the Hawk aircraft, following a contract with BAE signed in 2004 for 66 advanced jet trainers to train IAF pilots, it hasnt done so.
Under that deal, worth nearly Rs8,000 crore at that time, BAE would supply 24 Hawks in flyaway conditions, with the remaining 42 aircraft to be made under a technology transfer licence at the Bangalore factory of HAL.
In November, the first two British-built Hawk arrived in India. These trainers will be used for stage-III training for newly commissioned fighter pilots of the IAF at Bidar in Karnataka from June.
The Hawk aircraft manufacturing activities have already commenced and the first aircraft would be delivered to the IAF by March 2008,said Baweja.
The remaining aircraft are scheduled to be delivered by May 2010.
We learnt from the Jaguar experience and inserted a clause for global rights (for Hawk), said a retired HAL official who was involved in negotiations with BAE but did not want to be named.
In the 1990s, BAE refused permission for HAL, which also produces the Jaguar planes under licence, to sell them to Bahrain as it didnt have the right to do so, the former official added.
In 2004, HAL completed designs for a homegrown combat attack trainer, or advanced jet trainer that doubles as a fighter, but scrapped the project after the IAF did not approve it.
The public sector defence aircraft company has a homegrown Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT), used for stage-II training of pilots, that is behind schedule by two years because of delay in procuring a suitable Russian engine.
The initial operation clearance of IJT is now planned by end-2008, said Baweja.
Two prototypes of the IJT, powered by a French engine from Snecma, have completed 371 test flights.
HAL had revenue of Rs7,505 crore as of March, while BAE had revenue of £13.76 billion, or Rs1.08 trillion, for the year ended December 2006.
HAL, BAE study JV to make Hawk jets - livemint