HAL says We will give all what nation wants

Source : IDRW

News by : TNN

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will go by national consensus on the type of aircraft to be produced and manufactured by it and will meet all targets set for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). HAL chairman Ashok Nayak had said on Monday that HAL would fulfil orders for 48 pieces of the LCA and was expecting a further order for 100 more from the IAF-Navy. “As we go along, new concepts and technologies will be absorbed and incorporated in the production of the aircraft. We are proud that the project has achieved its initial target.”

A day after the LCA was described as a medium to low-end aircraft and not as being an air-superiority fighter by Air Chief Marshal P V NaIk, aviation experts said an aircraft that is nationally decided is the one suitable for national security.

HAL top brass told TOI that the LCA project was “a nationally decided project” and “would be delivered in accordance with national requirements”. A top HAL official said: “The issue is not whether the LCA is an air superiority fighter or not. The LCA has been conceived, designed and developed for a particular role and purpose by national consensus. As producers, we will deliver that aircraft.”

HAL top brass said it was well aware that the LCA project was nationally initiated for a particular purpose with the aircraft set to have a particular form, role and capability. “That requirement is being met. Our capability was limited earlier, it is better now. So even while LCA may have been conceived in the past, it will be contemporary and get better as it goes along. The LCA will certainly fulfill its mandate,” a top official said.

“If you ask whether HAL has a suggestion on the type of aircraft India should have in the future, we certainly do, although it is a suggestion that will be in tandem with the consensus of all actors concerned. Now that we have better capabilities and have understood our shortcomings from previous experiences, we have suggested advanced fighters like the fifth generation fighter aircraft, which again is a national consensus project. HAL will be playing a role in the manufacture of this advanced aircraft along with Russia.”

HAL top brass was careful to point out that suggestion for advanced fighters did not mean that there was no role for aircraft like LCA. They said the advanced fighters and the LCA would serve respective purposes.

On 100% compliance that  IAF has sought for the aircraft, the official said it is natural for any user (IAF) to seek the same. “Compliance is a continuous process. Compliance concerns other organisations. Once completed, we would then be producing an aircraft that has been fully compliant. If at the inaugural of the IOC, an aircraft is 70% to 80% compliant, it will be 100% compliant at the time of delivery to the user. In that time, agencies would have effected improvements on all suggestions.”