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HAL to ink pact with Israel for marketing ALH globally

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, the Bangalore-based largest defence public sector undertaking, will be signing a memorandum of understanding with the Israeli aviation industry soon to market its Advance Light Helicopter globally from next year.

The successful induction of the indigenously built ALH into the Indian armed forces with separate versions for the Air Force, Army, Navy, and the Coast Guard has emboldened the Rs 2,775-crore (Rs 27.75 billion) aeronautical behemoth to jointly promote its flagship product in the international market with Israel.

"We are signing an MoU with the Israeli aviation industry in a few days for a joint marketing venture to sell all the versions of the ALH to global customers.

The MoU will also enable HAL to deploy the state-of-the-art Israeli avionics on our ALH platform," declared HAL chairman N R Mohanty in Bangalore on Saturday.

The company will be displaying all the ALH versions at the ensuing Aero Show, Asia's largest aviation industry exposition, scheduled to be held in Bangalore from February 5-9, 2003. It has been christened Dhruv after the North Pole star.

"Even since the Indian defence forces have started using the 7-8 ALH versions in their operations from this year, we have been getting lot of enquiries from many countries in Europe, West Asia, and South East Asia.

The product's versions were also displayed recently at the Paris and Farnborough air shows to promote its capabilities with weaponisation," Mohanty stated.

Being a twin-engine helicopter, ALH has several advantages over the existing copters operating worldwide for combat, rescue, supply, and surveillance operations. Two Turbomeca TM333 turboshaft engines from France power the copters.

Designed and developed with consulting support from European Deutschland (formerly MBB) of Germany, the state-of-the-art ALH can fly at high altitudes (up to 6,000 m) and possesses sea-level high lift capability, besides high-speed performance.

Buoyed by the encouraging response from its main customers, mainly the three wings of the Indian armed forces, HAL is gearing up to export all its four variants in the multi-billion dollar international helicopter market.

"Though we have letters of intent from the Army, the Navy, and Air Force for supplying a total of 300 ALHs over the next 10-12 years, we will leverage on the marketing strengths of the Israeli aviation industry to aggressively push the product to secure orders even for its civilian and ambulance variants in the world," Mohanty asserted.

The orders from the Army and the Navy are for 120 each, while the IAF has a requirement of about 60 ALHs by 2010.

Mohanty also disclosed that the Intermediate Advance Jet trainer was getting ready for its maiden test flight at the Aero Show, and induction into the IAF to replace the Kiran Mark II trainer aircraft.

"We expect the IAF to induct the IJTs in the next couple of years after we take up its production. The Air Force requirement is in the order of 200-250 IJTs. We are also exploring the possibility of exporting them in the global competitive market," Mohanty affirmed.

"HAL has come of age. The company is no longer looked as a customer by the global aviation players, but as collaborative partners to join hands in producing and marketing the products. There is a paradigm shift in the global perception of HAL being a major sourcing hub in Asia," Mohanty claimed.

HAL will also be signing up with Snecma soon to set up a joint venture to roll out aero engines for the global military and civilian aircraft.

"We will soon enter into an agreement with the world's leading French aerospace company, to co-develop and co-produce twin engines for the ALHs as well as the IJTs through a joint venture, with 50-50 per cent equity," Mohanty disclosed.

Snecma will be granting HAL its license to manufacture the powerful engines, code named Shakti, in India with transfer of technology and expertise.

"As the helicopters cruise on twin-engines, the initial requirement for 300 ALHs will be about 600 engines and another 150 engines for spare.

Similarly, the initial engine requirement for about 100 IJTs, to be used by the Indian Air Force for training their pilots, will be in the order of 200 with another 100 for spare use," HAL officials told rediff.com.

Incidentally, the euro 6.9-billion aerospace propulsion and equipment group had licensed HAL to manufacture about 200 Adour engines for the Jaguar fighter aircraft for the IAF, and about 600 Artouste engines for Cheetah and Chetak helicopters, used by the army and navy.

Asked about the production schedule of the Light Combat Aircraft, Mohanty said the Union government had recently sanctioned Rs 1000 crore (Rs 10 billion) for the limited series production of the multi-role fighter aircraft from its Bangalore complex.

"The defence ministry has cleared the development and production of LCA to the tune of 6-8 aircraft every year from 2007 onwards," Mohanty added.

Setting a target of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) increase in its gross turnover to cross the sales figure of Rs 3000 crore (Rs 30 billion) during the current fiscal year (2002-03), HAL has also decided to upgrade the Jaguars of the IAF from the coming year.

It may be recalled that HAL began upgrading the aging MiG 21 fleet of the Air Force from this year to prevent their crash, which has become the order of the day due to multiple factors such as engine fatigue, pilot error and bird hits.

"HAL will also take up the upgradation and moderation of IAF's fleet in the category of MiG 27s, Jaguars and Mirages in association with the Russians and the French respectively," Mohanty hinted.

Earlier, Mohanty distributed peformance awards to the various divisions of HAL, located across the country. The awards, including prize money, were decided in an inter-divisional performance competition, based on 10 parameters. The Bangalore complex walked away with maximum awards, including the best performing division.

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