Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has called for concerted efforts to intensify indigenous production of helicopters during the national seminar on Make in India – Civil and Military Helicopters: Emerging Opportunities and Challenges organised by Rotary Wing Society of India, in Bengaluru.

Delivering the keynote address, HAL Chairman Dr R.K. Tyagi said, “In the wake of emerging civil and military requirement of helicopters in India especially in the areas of disaster management, air surveillance, offshore operations and law enforcement, there is a tremendous opportunity for indigenous development. Developing global partnerships and collaboration in rotary-wing technologies will provide a solid foundation in the global aeronautics space.” He added that development of risk sharing partners, vendor base of Tier-I & II and outsourcing of MRO activities offers huge business opportunities to Indian private industry.

Dr Tyagi highlighted HAL’s success in developing helicopters that has played a key role in search and rescue operations for the Indian defence forces and thus paved the way for achieving selfreliance. “With the government’s thrust on Make in India, we now look forward to a well-defined strategy on helicopters, modernisation of production facilities, collaboration with Indian research labs and aggressively pursue technology to increase production.”

Wg Cdr Unnikrishna Pillai, Chief Test Pilot, HAL, spoke about the various challenges faced in the design and development of medium- and heavy-lift helicopters in India. He said that with the expertise gained in earlier projects, Rotary Wing Research & Design Centre is now confident and well poised to develop medium-lift helicopters.