Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), India’s leading aerospace and defence major has made noteworthy progress in all areas over the years, thus setting the stage for yet another eventful year 2017.
Moving into Regional Connectivity
HAL is now further diversifying into production of passenger aircrafts, to further shape the Government’s Regional Connectivity Scheme, under the ‘Make in India’ programme. Paving the way for HALto further diversify, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Shri Jayant Sinha inaugurated structural assembly of HAL-Do-228 (civil variant) at Kanpur on December 10, 2016. HALDo- 228 (civil variant) will play a lead role in providing the nation an affordable and sustainable air travel that connects tier-2 cities. This augurs well for the health and growth of the civil aviation sector in India and will also give a big boost to air travel within the country. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been sanctioned by the HAL Board to further shape Government’s Regional Connectivity Scheme under the ‘Make in India’ program. The Do-228-201 upgraded version, a 19-seater commuter aircraft is currently being manufactured at Transport Aircraft\
DORNIER
Division (TAD) Kanpur. HAL has already begun manufacturing two civil demonstrator aircraft.
Light Utility Helicopter
(LUH) In a significant development, HAL successfully conducted the first technical flight of its indigenous Light Utility Helicopter (LUH), thus beginning the prototype testing of LUH. This helicopter is expected to capture a sizeable share both in domestic and international market in the coming years.
Jaguar Upgrades
Continuing its emphasis on upgrades and its capability to overcome obsolescence issues, HAL has upgraded Jaguar twin-seater aircraft to DARIN –III standards reaching close to IOC. The complete design and development covering system requirement capture, specification preparation, software, hardware, electrical and mechanical design and development was carried out indigenously at HAL’s Mission & Combat System Research & Design Centre (MCSRDC). The aircraft modification was done at Overhaul Division, Bengaluru. Three DARIN I Standard Jaguar aircraft have been upgraded to DARIN III Standard by HAL.
This achievement comes on the heels of its earlier success on the first Mirage 2000 aircraft upgraded FOC that successfully flew on schedule. The Final Operational Configuration (FOC) design was implemented on an Initial Operational Configured (IOC) aircraft within eight months proving HAL’s mettle in mid-life upgrade of platforms. A Joint Venture company, ‘Helicopter Engines MRO Pvt. Ltd (HE-MRO)’ was inaugurated by the Defence Minister Mr. Manohar Parrikar at Goa. The JV is formed to provide Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) services for SafranTM333 2B2 and HAL Shakthi engines installed on HAL-built helicopters operated by the Defence services.
Skill India Missio
Taking the lead in supporting Government’s ‘Skill India’ mission, HAL actively participated and engaged maximum number of apprentices under the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS). Towards this, the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi presented a cheque to HAL in Kanpur for playing a constructive role under NAPS.
Focus on Renewable Energy
In a significant move to harness solar energy, a 3.5MW solar power project was commissioned at HAL Airport, Bengaluru on December 23, 2016. The environment-friendly project, spanning over 23 acreswith 12,985 solar modules has been set up to harness solar energy as part of the focus on renewable energy sources. HAL is also in the process of establishing a 50 MW capacity Government-approved renewable energy project in next two years.
HAL is poised for more success in the near future by addressing key challenges and speed up important programs to serve the interests of the nation by strengthening the needs of the Armed Forces.