India puts civil aircraft plan back on runway

[IND151]

Undeterred by the earlier failure of Saras, India has set in motion plans to build its first indigenous civilian aircraft. Saras, a locally made 14-seater plane that took over two decades to develop, is yet to win local certification.

Hindustan Aeronautics, the country's sole maker of military aircraft, is forming a 50:50 special purpose vehicle with state-owned plane designer National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) to design and develop a turboprop aircraft, capable of carrying 70-100 people, by 2020.

“We are forming a SPV with a paid-up capital of Rs 20 crore and authorised capital of Rs 30 crore to develop the country's first locally made transport aircraft. The HAL board has already given approval for the formation of SPV and the nod from NAL board of directors is expected by the end of the month,” said a top HAL official.

The total project cost is expected to be in the region of Rs 7,500 crore and the SPV may rope in more public and private sector companies such as Tata Technologies, Samtel Avionics (provider of cockpit avionics), Taneja Aerospace as equity partners in the project at later stages of the development programme.

"We hope India will see its own regional transport aircraft by 2020 if subsequent government approvals for R&D and development phases are granted in the current calendar year," the official said.

It is expected that the venture would take off soon after the formation of the new government at the Centre. The proposal would also need approval from the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) that is studying the regional aircraft plan and would finalize the number of seats and the type of engine that would be used in the aircraft.

"The most important component of the project is the engine and we have received responses from seven major engine companies, including the French Snecma, Pratt & Whitney, General Electric to our request for information (RFI). In the next three months, we are going to make a presentation to the government through NMCC and are hoping for a favourable response,” HAL chairman R K Tyagi told FE.

Indigenous development of a national transport aircraft is part of the government's initiative to give a boost to manufacturing activity. Last year Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved a plan to develop a 70 to 100-seater aircraft.

According to a Boeing estimate, India will require close to 1,500 planes.





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[Parul]

Undeterred by the earlier failure of Saras, India has set in motion plans to build its first indigenous civilian aircraft. Saras, a locally made 14-seater plane that took over two decades to develop, is yet to win local certification.

Hindustan Aeronautics, the country's sole maker of military aircraft, is forming a 50:50 special purpose vehicle with state-owned plane designer National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) to design and develop a turboprop aircraft, capable of carrying 70-10 people, by 2020.

“We are forming a SPV with a paid-up capital of Rs 20 crore and authorised capital of Rs 30 crore to develop the country's first locally made transport aircraft. The HAL board has already given approval for the formation of SPV and the nod from NAL board of directors is expected by the end of the month,” said a top HAL official.

The total project cost is expected to be in the region of Rs 7,500 crore and the SPV may rope in more public and private sector companies such as Tata Technologies, Samtel Avionics (provider of cockpit avionics), Taneja Aerospace as equity partners in the project at later stages of the development programme.

"We hope India will see its own regional transport aircraft by 2020 if subsequent government approvals for R&D and development phases are granted in the current calendar year," the official said.

It is expected that the venture would take off soon after the formation of the new government at the Centre. The proposal would also need approval from the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) that is studying the regional aircraft plan and would finalize the number of seats and the type of engine that would be used in the aircraft.

"The most important component of the project is the engine and we have received responses from seven major engine companies, including the French Snecma, Pratt & Whitney, General Electric to our request for information (RFI). In the next three months, we are going to make a presentation to the government through NMCC and are hoping for a favourable response,” HAL chairman R K Tyagi told FE.

Indigenous development of a national transport aircraft is part of the government's initiative to give a boost to manufacturing activity. Last year Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved a plan to develop a 70 to 100-seater aircraft.

According to a Boeing estimate, India will require close to 1,500 planes.





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Thank you for info.

 

[TimeToScoot]

Saras may fly in a fortnight - The Times of India

After Saras, India may soon start working on building a 90-seater civilian aircraft : North, News - India Today

Saras set to fly again | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis

Any updates on the Saras?

 

[IND151]

Thank you for info.

Stop copying me. ,,,

Saras may fly in a fortnight - The Times of India

After Saras, India may soon start working on building a 90-seater civilian aircraft : North, News - India Today

Saras set to fly again | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis

Any updates on the Saras?

No recent update on Saras as far as I know.

 

[Abingdonboy]

Hindustan Aeronautics, the country's sole maker of military aircraft, is forming a 50:50 special purpose vehicle with state-owned plane designer National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) to design and develop a turboprop aircraft, capable of carrying 70-10 people, by 2020.

This is a turbofan:

 

[Guynextdoor2]

This is a turbofan:

Both are explored. I think the props are more efficient. The other one is explored primarily for prestige purposes.

 

[karan21]

Really can't believe that they are building a turboprop in this aviation age. Total lack of vision.

 

[Abingdonboy]

Really can't believe that they are building a turboprop in this aviation age. Total lack of vision.

For a regional/inter-city airliner it makes perfect sense.

 

[COLDHEARTED AVIATOR]

Whats the point when you cannot make the engine?

 

[IND151]

This is a turbofan:

Printing mistake, obviously or may be they couldn't get decent CGI of prop powered aircraft.

 

[sancho]

Whats the point when you cannot make the engine?

As if all airliner developers in the world have indigenous engines, please.

Printing mistake, obviously or may be they couldn't get decent CGI of prop powered aircraft.

No, they want to make either 2 types of aircrafts, or 1 type that can use both types of engines:

 

[Abingdonboy]

Whats the point when you cannot make the engine?

Come on bro, this is rather irrelevant. Boeing planes fly with Rolls Royce engines, Airbus planes fly with Prat&Whitney/GE engines depending on user requests. You don't NEED to have your own engine to make a commercial a/c, long term for India's industry sake it would be preferred but it's not a must right now.

 

[Gessler]

This is a turbofan:

It looks like MTA. Oh wait, it is MTA.

 

[Skull and Bones]

Just sell the design of Saras to Mahindra or Tata, and watch it get certification within 2-3 years max.

 

[Indischer]

Just sell the design of Saras to Mahindra or Tata, and watch it get certification within 2-3 years max.

Easier said than done. Neither Tata nor Mahindra has the skill-set or infrastructure necessary to design and develop large civilian aircraft. All they have are relevant experience in design and development of land vehicles(which is a totally different ball-game).

Aircraft design and construction is a highly specialized field, and were it any easy, we'd have already seen many Indian private players in it already.