With the French fighter plane Rafale emerging as the winner in the $ 11 billion MMRCA deal, state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is getting organized to manufacture the Rafale combat planes in India. India will be receiving the first 18 fighters in a flyway condition out of the total 126 planes within three years while HAL will gear up to assemble and manufacture the remaining 108 planes in India.
With the Rafale fighter becoming IAF’S choice, the state-run HAL is in the process of finalizing the land acquisition near its headquarters in Bangalore to manufacture them. HAL is expected to get the production tooling, expertise and technical know-how under transfer of technology from the French firm Dassault to start the process once the delivery of the planes start.
As per the MMRCA deal, 108 combat planes out of the 126 planes will be manufactured from SKD (semi-knocked-down) and CKD (completely knocked-down) kits in India by HAL. Once the workflow progresses and the French assistance in technology and production comes through, HAL will produce the fuselage and other parts from the raw materials, HAL sources added. Basically, HAL has become focused on the MMRCA project and chalked out three phases for manufacturing the advanced multi-role fighters.
According to recent reports, HAL is in the process of acquiring land near Bangalore to start a new division for MMRCA project. HAL intends to have separate divisions for the aircraft and the engine of the MMRCA at Bangalore. Two other locations are being finalized for setting up the airframe and engine divisions. Currently, work is progressing on the design for the layout of the aircraft and engine production units.
In a recent interview by the HAL Chairman and Managing Director P.V. Deshmukh, it was stated that HAL will be the lead production agency for the MMRCA airframe, aero-engine and systems integration. HAL already has MoUs with Dassault and engine-maker Snecma to produce some of the designated parts. The Rafale aircraft deliveries from HAL to the IAF will happen in the next four years and HAL expects to garner business worth over $ 4 billion from this project over the next 10 years. A large chunk of the offsets from the MMRCA is also expected to be absorbed by HAL.
Meanwhile, Defence Ministry sources have revealed that the French Rafale jet was chosen over the Eurofighter Typhoon in the MMRCA deal for IAF since the Rafale combat jet was working out much economical in terms of life cycle costs and direct acquisition costs. |