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Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, which manufactures the Light Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, plans to offload to industry larger chunks of the fighter plane to produce than is being done now.
It is working on a process to rope in eight to 12 large industry partners as tier-1 or tier-2 suppliers of bigger ‘modules’ or structures, according to HAL Chairman and Managing Director T. Suvarna Raju. He said an industry partner may gear up to the task over a couple of years.
In a scene where aircraft supplies have been notoriously delayed for various reasons, the strategy is seen to supplement HAL’s capacity, increase production and delivery rates to the IAF.
Mr. Raju, who took over early this year, told The Hindu in a recent interaction that it would allow the public sector Defence company to focus on military aviation projects of the future – the Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft, the civil passenger plane and unmanned air vehicles. “We are trying to get [certain] modules of the LCA prepared by the private industry. We have given RFIs [the first step of request for information] to those who are interested in being a defence vendor. An RFQ [request for quotation] will follow.
“We have interacted with a few on the fuselage, which gets done in four parts — the front, centre, rear and the wings. We have the jigs and fixtures for them to make, to begin with. They can make on their own later,” Mr. Raju said. The helicopter gear box with its many components was another example.
Mr. Raju said this was its new approach of producing the LCA. It was also ready to look for any Indian vendor to make its other product, the multi-purpose ALH, under licence.
Around 2,600 small and medium enterprises are registered with it. HAL was explicitly spelling out the required numbers. “So far, aircraft components are being made by industry. Now we would like them to be aggregators. We are looking at a minimum of 100 numbers in LCA; 200 in LCH; 200 Light Utility [or observation] Helicopters; and another 150 Advanced Light Helicopters.”
HAL would handhold the industry partners until they were confident.
It would still be the integrator of the warplane, hold the intellectual property rights and maintain the aircraft over the next 40 or so years of their service. Such an industry ecosystem, he said, would eventually take part in military production and benefit from many offsets that would come from original foreign hardware manufacturers.
