Hawks Built in India Cost Less

[Contrarian]

Hawks Built in India Cost Less: Defence Ministry

NEW DELHI - India has built the British Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) at facilities of state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) at rates nearly 20 percent less than those built by BAE Systems, said a senior Indian Defence Ministry official.

The first HAL-built Hawk is ready for delivery to the Indian Air Force on Aug. 14, the official said, adding that the cost of the HAL-built Hawk is about $14.2 million per aircraft while the Hawks built by BAE cost more than $20.2 million.

As part of a $1.7 billion contract signed between HAL and BAE in 2004, 66 Hawks were to be acquired for the Indian Air Force: 24 would be supplied in fly-away condition and the remaining 42 are to be assembled and license-produced at HAL. The entire project will be executed in eight years.

In June, HAL also bagged an order to build an additional 54 Hawk AJTs for the Navy and the Air Force.

So far, BAE Systems has flown in 12 Hawks to India. The aircraft are stationed at Air Force Station Bidar, in the southern state of Karnataka. All 24 Hawks were to have been delivered by June, but that schedule has been delayed.

Hawks Built in India Cost Less: Defence Ministry - Defense News

 

[Contrarian]

Hehe, i thought it was an interesting piece of news!

 

[Energon]

This trend is really in keeping with that of almost any other complex industrial production model. At the end of the day, skilled Indian labor comes in really cheap.

 

[nitesh]

I heard today is the hand over ceremony, pl keep a track.

 

[nitesh]

The hawk is delivered:

http://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/India/20080814/1027188.html

HAL built Hawk AJT handed over to Indian Air Force
Bangalore | Thursday, Aug 14 2008 IST

The HAWK Mk132 advanced jet trainer, built by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was today handed over to the Indian Air Force.

India had placed an order to buy 66 Hawks in 2004, with 24 of them to be delivered directly by its manufacturer BAE Systems of England, while the rest would be built by the city-based unit of the HAL. BAE has already supplied 14 such aircraft which are stationed at the Air Force Station at Bidar in Karnataka.

Speaking after receiving the aircraft at the HAL airport here from HAL Chairman Ashok K Baweja, Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal Fali H Major said a long standing desire of the Air Force to have a high end jet trainer had been fulfilled.

The HAL-built Hawk would now be flown directly to Bidar air base and added to the fleet of other jet trainers, he said.

The induction of Hawk trainer enabled us to shift from sub sonic to super sonic jet training. From HPT-32 to Kiran and MIG-21, which was 'less than a satisfactory' arrangement and we were always looking for a suitable operational and transitional aircraft to introduce our pilots to the complexities of combat flying. Hawk would help IAF to provide a smooth transition from a jet trainer to state-of-the-art fighters of the IAF, he said.

Earlier, HAL Chief Test Pilot Sqn Ldr (Rtd) Baldev Singh gave a breathtaking display of the HAL-built Hawk on an overcast and windy day as he flew in and out of the clouds in both vertical and horizontal positions.

 

[nitesh]

Guys check this one, thought to post it here:

The Hindu : National : New aircraft for IAF pilot training

New aircraft for IAF pilot training

Ravi Sharma
Qualitative requirements finalised for HPT-32 replacement
Will have an ejection seat

To be acquired along with a simulator

BANGALORE: Having used the piston HPT-32 aircraft made by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) with relative success since 1984, the Air Force is looking for a new machine that will serve as its ab initio trainer.

With this in mind the Air Force has finalised the qualitative requirements for the aircraft to be manufactured by the HAL. It will use the new aircraft for pilot training and other tasks.

Trainees at establishments such as the Air Force Academy in Dundigal (Andhra Pradesh) will first fly this aircraft for 65 hours before they are trifurcated into the fighter, helicopter and transport streams. Of the 65 hours, pilot trainees fly with a trainer for about 14 hours, the rest being solo.

Imported engine
Speaking to The Hindu Air Marshal V. R. Iyer, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command, said that the new aircraft will have avionics bordering on glass cockpit (the HPT-32 has none), will be powered by a more powerful turbo prop engine (the HPT-32 is powered by a piston engine) and have an ejection seat (the HPT-32 has no such facility and cadets/pilots have to bail out). The engine will be imported.

Most of the improvements will allow cadets to graduate easily from the new basic trainer to the newly inducted Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer and then onto combat aircraft, helicopters or transport planes.

The Air Force expects to have the aircraft by 2013-14 and the numbers could vary between 120 and 140.

Also in keeping with the Air Force’s new policy the aircraft will be acquired along with a simulator enabling cadets to take up a part of their flying training exercises on the ground, thereby saving in time and cost.

Action plan
Official sources in the HAL said that “an action plan for the new aircraft had been drawn up” and that a new trainer could be delivered within the timeframe envisaged by the Air Force.

The HPT-32 or Deepak was developed by the HAL, replacing the two-seat HT-2 basic trainer. Though the first prototype flew in January 1977, followed by the second and third prototypes in March 1979 and July 1981, commercial production started in 1984. Also, though the Air Force’s initial requirement was for 160 HPT-32s, only around 120 were delivered.

The backbone of basic training, the Air Force had a few years ago, after a series of accidents, almost declared the aircraft “too dangerous to fly solo.” The HPT-32s last crash was in May when a 21-year-old trainee pilot Geetika was killed when she was flying solo 55 km from Hyderabad.

 

[nitesh]

guys checkc this, good news for HAL

HAL to make India?s first passenger aeroplane - Corporate News - livemint.com

Bangalore: State-run military plane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, or HAL, will produce India’s first passenger aircraft, after the Indian Air Force, or IAF, chose HAL over private sector companies such as Mahindra Aerospace and Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T).
IAF will be the first customer for the 14-seater, multi-role aircraft called Saras, which will be the first passenger plane to be designed and manufactured in the country.

Most of the planes so far designed in the country by HAL and the Defence Research and Development Organisation, or DRDO, are for military use.
National Aerospace Laboratories, or NAL, the state-run agency for civil aircraft design, was to choose between Mahindra Aerospace and L&T, which had been shortlisted as a manufacturing partner for Saras following a tender in February.
But IAF last month insisted that HAL should make the planes to replace its ageing fleet of German-designed Dornier aircraft, people familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity. HAL had backed out of the Saras project after initial work following differences with NAL.

IAF has expressed interest in placing an order for 15 of the 35 Saras aircraft it requires for roles such as transporting VIPs and conducting aerial surveys.
“IAF felt that the (private) industry partners (still) do not have the skills and infrastructure to integrate a full plane,” said one scientist at NAL, who did not want to be identified. “They wanted one (manufacturing partner) who they were already comfortable with.”
L&T senior vice-president M.V. Kotwal declined to comment.
A Mahindra spokesman said Hemant Luthra, who heads the aerospace business, could not be reached for comment as he was out of the country. Mahindra Aerospace, which is jointly designing a five-seater passenger plane with NAL, is a unit of auto maker Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd.
“HAL being a defence (undertaking) has been identified by NAL to undertake production of Saras,” said IAF spokesman S.M. Sharma in an email, but declined to say whether the air force had asked for HAL to make the plane.

Analysts say Indian private firms are handicapped by the lack of local aerospace infrastructure and knowledge, which they aim to gain by doing work farmed out to them by foreign vendors that win aircraft orders from state-run airlines and the military.
“Take any company in India, they still have to learn to integrate an aircraft. Added to this, it will take 36-48 months to build infrastructure,” said Ratan Shrivastava, director for aerospace and defence at the India offices of research firm Frost and Sullivan. “They need support and a level playing field in (bigger) projects.”
HAL, which would make the Saras planes at its transport aircraft division in Kanpur, would sign a pact with NAL soon, said an HAL executive who did not want to be named. The executive said private industry would be involved in manufacturing parts and systems, but HAL would be the assembler of the plane.
On 12 February, Mint had reported that NAL set the price of Saras at Rs39.4 crore once manufactured, making it the most expensive in its class.
The Saras plane, named after the Indian crane, is still under development—two prototypes are doing flight trials, while the third production-standard aircraft is being developed at NAL’s facility in Bangalore. The plane is expected to be certified by 2009.
NAL has designed a two-seater trainer—Hansa, or Swan —and is designing a 90-seater passenger plane, in which it plans to have private and foreign partners. NAL is also in talks with HAL to be the production partner for the bigger plane, the HAL executive said.

 

[jaison]

i also heard that the coast guard will place orders to replance dorniers for coastal Surveillance ,can you tell me about the versatility of this machine.