Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the government aviation company that manufactures military aircraft, is now going to enter the civil aviation sector. In the Wings India exhibition that started in Hyderabad, HAL has displayed to the world the Superjet (SJ-100) aircraft, Dhruv-NG helicopter and Hindustan (H-228) to be built in collaboration with Russia.
According to HAL CMD DK Sunil Kumar, an agreement has been signed with Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) for the SJ-100 passenger aircraft and this very special plane will be ready in India under Make in India in the next three years. These aircraft will be manufactured in Nashik (and Kanpur) as about 250 Sukhoi fighter jets were manufactured at HAL’s Nashik facility with Russian help. Now the construction of these aircraft has been completed.
Will be used under UDAN scheme
These SJ-100 (Sukhoi Superjet) aircraft will be used for short distance connectivity under the UDAN scheme. Under the country’s UDAN scheme (a scheme to connect Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities by air), there is currently a need for about 200 small aircraft in the country. Also, if international tourist destinations in the Indian Ocean region (like Sri Lanka, Maldives etc.) are added to this, then 350 additional aircraft will be required. The SJ-100 aircraft can seat a total of 103 passengers and 200 such aircraft are used by 16 commercial airlines in Russia for domestic flights.
According to HAL, SJ-100 will prove to be a game changer for short distance flights. Also, the partnership between HAL and UAC is the result of trust in each other. HAL has indigenously manufactured about 250 Sukhoi fighter aircraft and 600 MiG-21 fighter jets for the Indian Air Force through license from Russia, but this is the first agreement of its kind for civil aircraft with Russia.
What does HAL make?
CMD of HAL said that in the coming years, the company will do 25 percent operations for the civil sector. Currently this share is only 5-6 percent. At present, apart from indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, HAL manufactures Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) Prachanda, Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv and HTT (trainer) aircraft. These are all military aircraft. However, in 1961, HAL also manufactured the Avro (AVRO HS-748) passenger aircraft. But this project was stopped in 1988.
HAL has started manufacturing Hindustan-228, the civil version of Dornier military aircraft. Alliance Airlines has purchased this 16-seat plane from HAL. Besides, it has also become the country’s first exported civil aircraft. HAL has exported 02 such aircraft to the Caribbean country Guyana and other orders are also going to be received soon.
Dhruv-NG helicopter
HAL has started working on Dhruv-NG, the civil version of Light Advanced Helicopter (ALH). It is believed that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will soon issue the certification of this helicopter.
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