Hindustan Aeronautics Limited

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
File:Hal.JPG
Type	Public (PSE)
Founded	1940 (in 1964, company took on current name), Bangalore
Headquarters	Template:Country data IND Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Key people	Ashok Nayak (Chairman) PV Deshmukh MD (MiG) SK Jha MD (A) Fakruddin Mohammad (Director-Corporate planning and Marketing) D.Shivmurti (Director-Finance)
Industry	Aerospace and defense
Products	Aerospace equipment Military aircraft Communication & Navigation equipment Space systems
Revenue	Template:Increase US$2.35 billion (FY 2007)
Employees	30,000
Slogan	"Asia's Premier Aerospace Complex"
Website	www.hal-india.com

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (Template:Lang-hi) (HAL) (Template:Lang-hi) based in Bangalore, India, is one of Asia's largest aerospace companies. Under the management of the Indian Ministry of Defence, this public sector company is mainly involved in aerospace industry, which includes manufacturing and assembling aircraft, navigation and related communication equipment, as well as operating airports.

HAL built the first military aircraft in South Asia and is currently involved in the design, fabrication and assembly of aircraft, jet engines, helicopters and their components and spares. It has several facilities throughout India including Nasik, Korwa, Kanpur, Koraput, Lucknow, and Hyderabad. The German engineer Kurt Tank designed the HF-24 Marut fighter-bomber, the first fighter aircraft made in India.

Hindustan Aeronautics has a long history of collaboration with several other international and domestic aerospace agencies such as the Airbus Industries, Boeing, Sukhoi Aviation Corporation, Israel Aircraft Industries, RSK MiG, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce plc, Dassault Aviation, Dornier Flugzeugwerke, Aeronautical Development Agency and Indian Space Research Organisation.

History

File:HAL Dhruv production line.JPG

Production line of the HAL Dhruv at Bangalore.

HAL was established as Hindustan Aircraft in Bangalore in 1940 by Walchand Hirachand to produce military aircraft for the Royal Indian Air Force. The initiative was actively encouraged by the Kingdom of Mysore, especially by the Diwan, Sir Mirza Ismail. The British Government bought a one-third stake in the company by April 1941 as it believed this to be a strategic imperative. Later in April 1942, it bought out the stakes of Walchand Hirachand himself and other promoters so that it can act freely. The decision by United Kingdom was primairly motivated to boost British military hardware supplies in Asia to counter the increasing threat posed by Imperial Japan during Second World War. However, the Mysore Kingdom refused to sell its stake in the company but yielded the management control over to the British Government. Thus, within 2 years of establishment, it was nationalized.

In 1943 the Bangalore factory was handed over to the United States Army Air Force but still using HAL management. The factory expanded rapidly and became the centre for major overhaul and repair of American aircraft and was known as the 84th Air Depot. The first aircraft to be overhauled was a PBY Catalina followed by every type of aircraft operated in Indian and Burma. When returned to Indian control two-years later the factory had become one of the largest overhaul and repair organisations in the East.

After India gained independence in 1947, the management of the company was passed over to the Government of India and was renamed as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Though HAL was not used actively for developing newer models of fighter jets, the company has played a crucial role in modernization of the Indian Air Force. In 1957 company started manufacturing Jet engines (Orpheus) under license from Rolls-Royce at new factory located in Bangalore. During the 1980s, HAL's operations saw a rapid increase which resulted in the development of new indigenous aircraft such as HAL Tejas and HAL Dhruv. HAL also developed an advanced version of the MiG-21, known as MiG-21 Bison, which increased its life-span by more than 20 years. HAL has also obtained several multi-million dollar contracts from leading international aerospace firms such as Airbus,Boeing and Honeywell to manufacture aircraft spare parts and engines.

Operations

HAL is one of the largest aerospace companies in Asia with its annual turnover to be running above US$2 billion. More than 40% of HAL's revenues come from international deals to manufacture aircraft engines, spare parts, and other aircraft materials. Below is a partial list of major operations being undertaken by HAL:

International deals

File:Dhruv Ecuador.jpg

HAL Dhruv helicopters of the Ecuadorian Air Force in 2008.

File:Hawk production at HAL.JPG

An IAF BAe Hawk being license-produced at the HAL Hawk production facility in Bangalore.

• The US$10 billion fifth-generation fighter jet program with the Sukhoi Corporation of Russia.
• US$1 billion contract to manufacture aircraft parts for Boeing.
• Multi-role transport aircraft project with Ilyushin of Russia worth US$600 million.
• 120 RD-33MK turbofan engines to be manufactured for MiG-29K by HAL for US$250 million.
• Contract to manufacture 1,000 TPE331 aircraft engines for Honeywell worth US$200,000 each (estimates put total value of deal at US$200 million).
• US$120 million deal to manufacture Dornier 228 for RUAG of Switzerland.
• Manufacture of aircraft parts for Airbus Industries worth US$150 million.
• US$100 million contract to export composite materials to Israel Aircraft Industries.
• US$65 million joint-research facility with Honeywell and planned production of Garrett TPE331 engines.
• US$50.7 million contract to supply Advanced Light Helicopter to Ecuadorian Air Force. HAL will also open a maintenance base in the country.
• US$30 million contract to supply avionics for Malaysian Su-30MKM.
• US$20 million contract to supply ambulance version of HAL Dhruv to Peru.
• Contract of 3 HAL Dhruv helicopters from Turkey worth US$20 million.
• US$10 million order from Namibia for HAL Chetak and Cheetah helicopters.
• Supply of HAL Dhruv helicopters to Mauritius' National Police in a deal worth US$7 million.
• Unmanned helicopter development project with Israel Aircraft Industries.

Domestic deals

• 180 Sukhoi Su-30MKI being manufactured at HAL's facilities in Nasik and Bangalore. The total contract, which also involves Russia's Sukhoi Aerospace, is worth US$3.2 billion.
• 200 HAL Light Combat Helicopters for Indian Air Force and 500 HAL Dhruv helicopters worth US$5.83 billion.
• US$900 million aerospace hub in Andhra Pradesh.
• US$57 million upgrade of SEPECAT Jaguar fleet of the Indian Air Force.
• US$55 million fighter training school in Bangalore in collaboration with Canada's CAE.
• 64 MiG-29s to be upgraded by HAL and Russia's MiG Corporation in a program worth US$960 million.
• Licensed production of 82 BAe Hawk 132.

In-house developed products

Fighter aircraft

File:Light Combat Aircraft.jpg

HAL Tejas performing an inverted pass maneuver.

• HF-24 Marut — Mk1 and Mk1T
• Tejas — Light Combat Aircraft
• FGFA — under joint-development with the Sukhoi Corporation
• MCA — india's indigenous stealth fighter
• Su-30MKI, a derivative of Sukhoi Su-27 co-developed with Sukhoi Corporation

Helicopters

File:Dhruv Indian Army Farnborough 08.jpg

HAL Dhruv of the Indian Army

• Dhruv — Advanced Light Helicopter
• Light Combat Helicopter (under development)
• Light Observation Helicopter (under development)
• Indian Multi-role Helicopter (under development)

Engines

• GTRE GTX-35VS Kaveri- Co-developed with GTRE(DRDO)(under development)
• PTAE-7- For indegeniously designed Lakshya PTA

Light trainer aircraft

• HT-2
• HPT-32 Deepak
• HUL-26 Pushpak
• HAOP-27 Krishak
• HA-31 Basant
• HJT-16 Kiran — Mk1, Mk1A and Mk2
• HJT-36 Sitara — Intermediate Jet Trainer (under development)

Transport aircraft

File:HAL Saras.jpg

Saras, developed by HAL and National Aerospace Laboratories.

• Saras — Co-developed with the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL)
• HAL Multirole Transport Aircraft — under joint-development with Ilyushin Design Bureau

Passenger Aircraft

• Indian Regional Jet (IRJ) of 70-100 seater capacity to be jointly developed with NAL.

Glider

• HAL G-1 — first original design produced by the company in 1941; only one built.
• Ardhra — training glider

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

• Lakshya PTA — Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Licenced production

File:SU-30 MKI Lajes.JPG

HAL licenced-built Su-30MKI

• Harlow PC-5 — first aircraft assembled by HAL
• Percival Prentice — 66-built by HAL
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 — FL, M, Bis and Bison upgrades variants
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-27 — M variant
• SEPECAT Jaguar— IS, IB and IM variants
• AdourMk 811 for Jaguar
• Adour Mk 871 for BAE Hawk Mk 132
• HAL Ajeet — improved version of the Folland Gnat
• Aerospatiale SA 315B Lama — HAL Cheetah, Lancer, Cheetal Variants
• Aerospatiale SA 316B Alouette III — HAL Chetak, Chetan Variants
• Dornier Do 228 and Garret-5 engine
• HAL HS 748 Avro
• Sukhoi Su-30MKI
• BAe Systems Hawk Mk. 132 — scheduled production of 42 aircraft

Gallery

• Mig-27.jpg

  HAL license manufactured MiG-27

• JaguarIS.JPG

  HAL license manufactured Jaguar IS

• Dassault Mirage 2000.jpg

  HAL overhauled Mirage 2000

• HAL Hawk assembly.JPG

  Hawk production facility at HAL, Bangalore.

See also

• DRDO
• HAL Airport
• Indian Air Force
• Indian Space Research Organisation
• Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company
• Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC

External links

• Template:Official

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Hindustan Aeronautics Limited".