PSU major HAL to issue RFP for regional aircraft engines

HAL and UKTI meeting at Farnborough Airshow near London on July 14

GOVERNMENT-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) will issue a request for proposal (RFP) to buy aero-engines for its civil regional aircraft programme.

HAL is partnering with the state-run National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) in the civil aircraft programme for expanding regional transportation on feeder routes across the country.

"As 11 bidders had responded to our request for information (RFI) for the 70-90-seater civil aircraft engine, the RFP will be issued soon to procure the engines, as the...

aircraft will be manufactured in India, with an expected roll-out by 2022," HAL chairman R.K. Tyagi, who is in London said in a statement.

HAL will float a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with NAL to build the first ‘Made in India’ regional civil aircraft by 2020-22 through the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

“HAL and National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) have taken the lead to build this aircraft on PPP model. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is being formed by HAL and NAL to steer this project,” the statement said.

HAL plans to involve about 100 vendors from the Indian aerospace industry in manufacturing the regional transport aircraft (RTA), the statement added.

HAL’s aero engine research and design centre issued the RFI in December seeking cost and technical details of a fuel-efficient aero engine to power the proposed twin-engine regional aircraft.

The statement also said that British firms are keen in partnering with HAL to manufacture the regional aircraft for the burgeoning Indian civil aviation sector.

“UK Trade and Investment director Carole Sweeney assured us that most of the British firm were interested to partner in the RTA with us,” Tyagi said after a business meeting with her at the week-long Farnborough international air show being held in London since Monday.

Representatives of British firms such as ADS Group, Aircraft Research Association, Cobham, Cranfield University, Meggitt, Rolls Royce, Stirling Dynamics and Ultra Controls were also present at the meeting. “We plan to roll out about 400 aircraft to serve the needs of feeder airlines as we have 450 airstrips across the country for air travel,” HAL’s design and development director T. Suvarna Raju said after the meeting.

Some of the key representatives from UK industries such as ADS Group, Aircraft Research Association, Cobham, Cranfield University, Meggitt, Rolls Royce, Stirling Dynamics, Ultra Controls, UTAS, UKIBC were present in the meeting.

The state-run Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) constituted a 15-member high-power committee in May 2011 under the chairmanship of former ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair to launch the national civil aircraft development project.

The design and development of the prototype is estimated to cost about Rs.5,000 crore and is likely to be ready in five-six years for flight trials.

Today, HAL has 19 production units and 10 research and design centres in eight locations across the country.