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Russian, Indian Firms To Co-Produce Ka-226 Helos
By Vivek Raghuvanshi 10:35 a.m. EDT September 5, 2015
(Photo: Russian Helicopters)
NEW DELHI — India's Reliance Defence and Aerospace has partnered with Russian Helicopters and Rosoboronexport to manufacture Ka-226 helicopters in India, said an executive of parent company Reliance Infrastructure.
India gave a firm order to Russia, on nomination basis, to manufacture 200 Ka-226 helicopters for the Indian military. The order could increase because India has a need for more than 400 light utility helicopters in the Ka-226 category.
Despite the arrangement, Russia is not committed to manufacture Ka-226 only at Reliance facilities, said a Russian diplomat. Several parameters pertaining to transfer of technology, cost and creation of infrastructure still need to be worked out, the diplomat said.
After India canceled a global tender last year to purchase 197 light utility helicopters, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during talks in December with the Indian prime minister, offered co-production of Ka-226 light utility helicopters under India's "Buy and Make" category, which includes transfer of technology.
A Reliance Infrastructure executive said he is optimistic production will occur in India because last month his company was allotted 289 acres of land in the state of Maharashtra to set up an aerospace facility which will also house the Ka-226 production facility.
However, some analysts are skeptical whether Reliance Defence and Aerospace, which has no previous experience in manufacturing helicopters, will be able to produce the Ka-226.
“It [manufacturing helicopters] is a highly complex process; [you will have to] develop skills for a helicopter final integration line to be set up and that requires design, engineering, manufacturing and integration process skills to be acquired, trained and mastered. This is a time-consuming and capital intensive process. Some experts feel it is even more complex than aircraft manufacturing. Thus it would be a huge challenging task,” said an executive of India’s private sector major Larsen & Toubro.
An executive of the Tata Group, which is also exploring the possibility of manufacturing helicopters in India, said: “Very difficult, but with proper transfer of technology it can be done. After all, everybody has to start sometime.”
It could take about 10 years before a company starts manufacturing helicopters in India, he added.
Vinod Kumar Narang, retired Indian Air Force air vice marshal, said manufacturing might be possible within five to six years.
“In India , we have enough talent, including ex-Indian Air Force or Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. [HAL] officials who can be trained to manufacture this type of helicopter. Theoretically it is possible for Reliance to manufacture helicopters from scratch. But practically it may not be possible due to constraints like land, finance, timelines, electricity, etc,” he said.
State-owned HAL is the monopoly military aircraft manufacturer and the Air Force would like the MoD to create a private sector competitor.
“Reliance is likely to be more dynamic and flexible than public sector units and may also be more cost efficient,” said Vivek Rae, MoD’s former director general of procurement.
Rae added that Reliance should be able to produce the helicopters at a lower cost. "Labor costs are very high in HAL. It is cheaper to import Russian Su-30 aircraft from Russia than manufacture them in HAL.”
Amit Chowshish, former MoD financial adviser, said he is optimistic Reliance can manufacture helicopters from scratch.
"It cannot be answered hypothetically how long it will take for a new company to start manufacturing from scratch, but putting together an assembly line is more of a managerial challenge. The new entity may decide to leverage the capabilities of the existing medium and small enterprises or even big companies, to become system integrators.”
HAL is still confident that it will partner in making the Ka-226, a HAL executive said. "HAL has been manufacturing helicopters for over three decades and we certainly have capability to build any kind of helicopter."
HAL already has the Light Utility Helicopter program underway and "our helicopter will be certainly much cheaper than the Reliance build," he added.
Russian, Indian Firms To Co-Produce Ka-226 Helos
By Vivek Raghuvanshi 10:35 a.m. EDT September 5, 2015
(Photo: Russian Helicopters)
NEW DELHI — India's Reliance Defence and Aerospace has partnered with Russian Helicopters and Rosoboronexport to manufacture Ka-226 helicopters in India, said an executive of parent company Reliance Infrastructure.
India gave a firm order to Russia, on nomination basis, to manufacture 200 Ka-226 helicopters for the Indian military. The order could increase because India has a need for more than 400 light utility helicopters in the Ka-226 category.
Despite the arrangement, Russia is not committed to manufacture Ka-226 only at Reliance facilities, said a Russian diplomat. Several parameters pertaining to transfer of technology, cost and creation of infrastructure still need to be worked out, the diplomat said.
After India canceled a global tender last year to purchase 197 light utility helicopters, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during talks in December with the Indian prime minister, offered co-production of Ka-226 light utility helicopters under India's "Buy and Make" category, which includes transfer of technology.
A Reliance Infrastructure executive said he is optimistic production will occur in India because last month his company was allotted 289 acres of land in the state of Maharashtra to set up an aerospace facility which will also house the Ka-226 production facility.
However, some analysts are skeptical whether Reliance Defence and Aerospace, which has no previous experience in manufacturing helicopters, will be able to produce the Ka-226.
“It [manufacturing helicopters] is a highly complex process; [you will have to] develop skills for a helicopter final integration line to be set up and that requires design, engineering, manufacturing and integration process skills to be acquired, trained and mastered. This is a time-consuming and capital intensive process. Some experts feel it is even more complex than aircraft manufacturing. Thus it would be a huge challenging task,” said an executive of India’s private sector major Larsen & Toubro.
An executive of the Tata Group, which is also exploring the possibility of manufacturing helicopters in India, said: “Very difficult, but with proper transfer of technology it can be done. After all, everybody has to start sometime.”
It could take about 10 years before a company starts manufacturing helicopters in India, he added.
Vinod Kumar Narang, retired Indian Air Force air vice marshal, said manufacturing might be possible within five to six years.
“In India , we have enough talent, including ex-Indian Air Force or Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. [HAL] officials who can be trained to manufacture this type of helicopter. Theoretically it is possible for Reliance to manufacture helicopters from scratch. But practically it may not be possible due to constraints like land, finance, timelines, electricity, etc,” he said.
State-owned HAL is the monopoly military aircraft manufacturer and the Air Force would like the MoD to create a private sector competitor.
“Reliance is likely to be more dynamic and flexible than public sector units and may also be more cost efficient,” said Vivek Rae, MoD’s former director general of procurement.
Rae added that Reliance should be able to produce the helicopters at a lower cost. "Labor costs are very high in HAL. It is cheaper to import Russian Su-30 aircraft from Russia than manufacture them in HAL.”
Amit Chowshish, former MoD financial adviser, said he is optimistic Reliance can manufacture helicopters from scratch.
"It cannot be answered hypothetically how long it will take for a new company to start manufacturing from scratch, but putting together an assembly line is more of a managerial challenge. The new entity may decide to leverage the capabilities of the existing medium and small enterprises or even big companies, to become system integrators.”
HAL is still confident that it will partner in making the Ka-226, a HAL executive said. "HAL has been manufacturing helicopters for over three decades and we certainly have capability to build any kind of helicopter."
HAL already has the Light Utility Helicopter program underway and "our helicopter will be certainly much cheaper than the Reliance build," he added.
Russian, Indian Firms To Co-Produce Ka-226 Helos
