Bengaluru: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the second plant of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s (HAL’s) Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Division in Bengaluru on February 2. He lauded the efforts made by HAL to increase the production capacity of LCA which is going to be the backbone of Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter fleet in years to come.
“HAL’s new LCA facility is example of how ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ is shaping and HAL deserves the largest indigenous order of 83 LCA Mk-IA. LCA is pride of India and sends the right message to others that India can make fighters of class in-house. The fighter is superior in many ways when compared to other fighters in its category besides being cost effective. I compliment HAL for working through the COVID times and bringing out this facility. The Company has a lot of talent and more orders should come in its way in future. We cannot depend on others on security issues and therefore will make HAL stronger, whatever it takes,” he added.
Raj Kumar, Secretary, Department of Defence Production, Government of India said HAL has taken timely steps proactively to set up the facility well ahead of receiving the order.
R Madhavan, CMD, HAL said the Defence Minister’s visit is a great moral booster to HAL. The phase-1 of the facility getting ready on 35 acres of land will enable HAL to enhance its production capacity to 16 from the current eight aircraft every year.
Aravind Limbavali, Minister in Karnataka Government, Air Marshal Sandeep Singh, DCAS, Dr. Tessy Thomas, DG (Aero) and many other senior officials from defence fraternity were present on the occasion.
The State of the art machines such as CNC profilers, five axis machining centre for producing technologically challenging, High pressure fluid cell press machine, Test rigs, specialized facilities for Heat Treatment, special processes and hangars for structural assembly of aircraft are being created in New LCA Complex. Production tooling and productivity improvement initiatives have also been undertaken by adopting latest simulation software packages under capacity augmentation.
Subsequently, in this facility, structural assemblies of LCA Mk-1A will be produced to meet the desired delivery rate as per the Contract. The Government cleared the proposal for procurement of 83 LCA Mk-1A aircraft on January 13, which will be produced in two production lines at Bengaluru with over 500 plus production partners across India.
All the 83 aircraft would be delivered to Indian Air Force in the next decade commencing 36 months from contract signing. HAL would be delivering 16 aircraft in a year to the Air Force. The programme will catalyse the aerospace ecosystem in India and would enable India to be an epitome in Prime Minister’s vision for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat.’
