HAL at the heart of Indian 5th-gen combat aircraft

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BANGALORE: Contrary to media reports, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will be playing a major role in the design and development of the much-vaunted Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) programme, the stateowned defence undertaking’s chairman told ET.

The $30-billion joint development agreement is expected to be launched with the signing of $295 million preliminary design contract during Russian president Dimitry Medvedev’s visit to India in December, which will also flesh out the role of the state-owned defence firm, India’s primary development agency for the programme.

“We will be a part of the team designing the IAF variant of the aircraft, and will be manufacturing it in India as well. While we have had certain amount of experience designing aircraft, playing a role in the design and development of next generation combat features, such as stealth and super cruise, will add to our knowledge,” HAL chairman Ashok Nayak said.

The concern arises from the fact that the Russians have been developing a single-seater prototype, the PAKFA T-50 since 1999, and carried out a largely successful test flight earlier this month, 22nd since its maiden flight in January, 2010.

While the IAF had reportedly indicated its option for a twin-seater version of the aircraft, Mr Nayak said HAL will be playing a role in the further development of the single-seater combat aircraft as well. “We will be working on the single-seater combat aircraft to a certain extent. That is because we have to understand the entire design process of the aircraft and then move on to the twin-seater version,” he said.

There is a possibility of the IAF inducting between 250 to 300 FGFA, starting from 2018, comprising of both single-seater and twin-seater variants, while the Russians have shown their preference for the former. Earlier media reports had speculated that HAL, while gaining valuable experience in the field of avionics, stealth and super-cruise , will not play much of a role in designing and developing the stealth fighter.

“Design, development and production of the aircraft will be shared between the two countries. Our pilots will be flying the aircraft. Whether this will be done in Bangalore or Nasik, is yet to be decided. We could build it in Nasik and fly it in Bangalore,” Mr Nayak said.

HAL chairman added that the final design contract for the FGFA programme is expected to be signed 18 months from the signing of the preliminary design contract. “Once the full design contract is signed, we will talk about the development and manufacturing aspect of the FGFA. Whether everything can be done in India, or some elements will have to be sourced from there, will be decided then. Sticking to the timescale will be critical,” he said.

The HAL chairman ruled out the possibility of a clash between the production schedules of current strike fighter, the Sukhoi-30 MKI and the FGFA, while pointing out the need to scale up production capacities to meet the requirements of the IAF in the long-term.

“The company will have to expand. We have to ensure that we have that much more capacity to handle these (the Sukhoi and FGFA production lines). We need to achieve our timescales, and be slightly ahead of schedules. We also have to decide, how much work can be retained inhouse, and the amount that can be done by outside industries,” he said. The FGFA is expected to compete with the US F-22 Raptor, which is codeveloped by Lockheed Martin and Boeing, and is currently the world’s only fifth-generation fighter in service.