Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
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History
Sandeep Unnithan , Aviation complex “India Today” 21/8/2017
A businessman with exceptional vision set up India's first aircraft-producing factory, Hindustan Aircraft, in 1940. Seth Walchand Hirachand, who had also set up India's first shipyard, Scindia Steam Navigation Company, and automobile plant, Premier Automobiles, was exceptionally prescient when he approached the kingdom of Mysore for seed capital for his startup. Hirachand was laying the building blocks for the soon-to-be independent country's industrial base. Today, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is India's only hub for the design, development and production of aircraft. Over the past 70 years, it has churned out 29 types of aircraft-from the MiG-21 to the Sukhoi Su-30MKI and the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft; Chetak, Cheetah and Dhruv helicopters; and transport aircraft for the security forces. An aerospace wing set up over two decades ago gave the Indian Space Research Organisation a leg-up in its space race by supplying key components for the Mars Orbiter mission and GSLV Mark III launch in 2014. It has created an entire aviation and high-technology industrial ecosystem by sourcing components from nearly 2,400 partners. HAL supplies high precision structural and composite work packages for Airbus A-320 and Boeing-777 aircraft. It has manufactured 4,060 aircraft and helicopters, 4,900 aero engines, and overhauled/ upgraded over 11,000 aircraft and 32,000 engines. Of late, it's transforming from a manufacturing to a technology firm by ploughing 10 per cent of profits into R&D and is set to produce over 1,000 helicopters and over 100 combat jets over the next decade to remain the mainstay of India's aerospace might.
Year-wise developments
2018: Orders dry up, staff idle, only helicopter Division Has Work
Chethan Kumar, Orders dry up, HAL staff could sit idle, October 20, 2018: The Times of India
Only Copter Division Has Some Work
Defence public sector unit Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is staring at a depleting order book and thousands of employees are worried at the prospect of sitting idle for months.
HAL has 29,035 employees, including 9,000 engineers, spread across nine locations — Bengaluru (Karnataka), Nashik (Maharashtra), Lucknow, Kanpur and Korwa (UP), Barrackpore (West Bengal), Hyderabad (Telangana), Kasargod (Kerala) and Koraput (Odisha). A new helicopter complex in Tumakuru (Karnataka) is under development and, upon its inauguration, some employees will be transferred there.
The aircraft division in Bengaluru, with around 3,000 employees, has no orders. With Jaguar and Mirage upgrade programmes, they’re hoping to be diverted to the LCA Tejas division, which has about 2,000 staffers. “We were hoping to bag the 108-plane deal (Rafale) but that’s ruled out now,” said a source in HAL.
HAL has to get orders for 83 additional Tejas, else these employees will be idle. While the Defence Acquisition Council has cleared procurement of 83 Tejas fighters, the actual order from IAF is yet to arrive. “A cost committee has been constituted but it’ll be months before it’s finalised. Until then, there’s no work,” another source said.
The Sukhoi Complex in Nashik, which has 5,000 employees, has orders for 17 months. Of 222 Su-30 MK-I aircraft, only the last batch of 23 is pending delivery. “We’ve consistently delivered 12 planes annually. After March 2020, there’s no work,” the source said.
HAL hoped to use the Nashik facility for the proposed joint venture with Russia, which envisaged a fifthgeneration fighter aircraft but it has not taken off. This will also reduce work at five other centres — three in UP and those in Hyderabad and Kasargod — which work on Su-30 subsystems. The only division with some business is the helicopter division, which is working on orders for 73 advanced light helicopters and awaiting orders for light combat helicopters.
The DAC has cleared procurement of 15 LCHs, but no orders have been placed. “The actual number must be 155 and 15 is the first batch. We’re hoping for more,” the source said. “We also have the light utility helicopter (LUH), which will soon get initial operational clearance. We expect orders there too. India needs over 1,000 choppers,” the source said.
