Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) will prioritise meeting Indias growing military aviation requirements before embarking on an aggressive international export campaign, Chairman and Managing Director Ravi Kota has revealed in an exclusive interview with The Tribune.
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Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) will prioritise meeting India's growing military aviation requirements before embarking on an aggressive international export campaign, Chairman and Managing Director Ravi Kota has revealed in an exclusive interview with
The Tribune.
Kota said the state-owned aerospace giant's immediate challenge was not winning overseas customers but delivering hundreds of aircraft already ordered by the Indian armed forces while expanding production capacity and strengthening its supply chain.
"My immediate requirement is to liquidate all these orders before I go to the foreign customer and say, 'Please take mine'," Kota said.
"I want to establish the capacity, build the ecosystem and work with all my partners so that I can deliver on time. Then I will come to the international market and say, 'See, my customers are very happy. Please take my aircraft.' "
Kota also clarified HAL's current position on India's Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), saying the company is not presently involved in the programme following the government's competitive selection process.
"We were involved in making a lot of structural design for the AMCA, but since we are not there in the programme, we have a lot of our own programmes to concentrate on."
HAL expects to certify the Dhruv Next Generation (Dhruv NG) helicopter in August after completing the remaining flight tests.
Kota said the company has already received an order for ten helicopters from Pawan Hans, India's state-owned helicopter operator, and has three aircraft ready for delivery once certification is completed.
"The market is very good," he said.
HAL's Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) is also nearing operational service.
Around ten helicopters have already been built and are undergoing final trials to satisfy Indian military requirements.
"We are confident that this year we will start delivering that helicopter."
Rather than relying on one spectacular overseas order, the company is steadily building its international presence.
HAL has already supplied Dornier 228 aircraft to Guyana
and expects further orders from Guyana and Niger.
Interest has also come from Malaysia, Vietnam, Seychelles, Thailand and Armenia for various helicopter platforms.
"We are working with a lot of these countries very closely to see how we can expedite the deals," Kota said.