Russian and Indian Companies to Produce New Airplane Together

Russian and Indian Companies to Produce New Airplane Together

The largest Indian state aviation enterprise, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. /HAL/ and two Russian companies - the Irkutsk Aviation Complex and the Ilyushin Design Complex - have reached agreements on the joint production in India of a multirole transport airplane.

As the HAL chairman, Nalini Ranjan Mohanti, reported to RIA Novosti, the commercial production of the airplane will begin in 6 years. It is calculated for 100 seats in the passenger variant and in the transport can carry from 20 to 50 tonnes of freight.

The cost of the airplane will be 20 percent cheaper than the market prices for similar aircraft, Mohanti noted. According to him, the cost of the project will be determined finally in the near future, and its detailed account will be ready by 20 January 2002.

According to the agreement on hand, the Russian companies will transfer to HAL the conceptual draft of the production of the airplane and the metallurgic know-how. For its part, HAL will accept for itself the creation of the infrastructure, the manufacturing project and the commercial production itself.

Local observers note that the Indian side is investigating various variants of obtaining European manufacturing technology for the newest avionics for the airplane. As regards the engines, they will be turbines, and to obtain them, Hal, by all appearances, will turn to Rolls-Royce or some other well-known company.

Besides the agreement that was reached on the joint production of the multirole transport airplane, the Hal chairman said, an agreement also was signed on the manufacture by the Russian company of a passenger airplane for 50 - 72 seats. In the coming 10 years, Mohanti noted, India will need not fewer than 100 similar aircraft for regional airlines.

Source: 11.01.01, Vozdushnyy Transport

Translated by Roy Cochrun /http://www.toad.net/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/royfc/today/acft_news.html/