New Delhi, Sept. 17 -- The transfer of LCA Tejas FOC twin-seat trainers and HTT-40 basic trainer planes to the IAF and Dhruv Next Generation helicopters to Pawan Hans Limited in Bengaluru on Friday is expected to serve as an indication of the larger shift in India's aerospace dreams from the development of indigenous platforms to establishing an ecosystem for their training, manufacture, and maintenance.
The presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu at the ceremony becomes even more significant when the three types of platforms signify different but interrelated components of India's aviation industry. In this case, while Tejas and HTT-40 contribute to the development of the military aviation ecosystem, Dhruv NG expands India's indigenous aerospace capabilities into the civilian sphere.
The strategic importance of the transfer can be seen especially in the development of an indigenous training-to-fighting pipeline system. The HTT-40 is the basic phase of military pilot training, whereas the Tejas twin-seater offers the pilots a platform for conversion and advanced training before they join the fighter role. The entire chain from the basic flight training to the fighter conversion to the operation phase might help in reducing the reliance on foreign platforms at various levels of the pilot training process.
This becomes increasingly necessary in view of the expansion of the induction of the indigenous Tejas fighter aircraft. The need for the programme is not only limited to the production of combat aircraft but also includes trainer aircraft, instructors, simulators, maintenance facilities, spare parts, and trained personnel. Thus, the induction of the twin-seater is a very crucial aspect of the Tejas ecosystem.
HAL and its industry associates have to deal with a more important issue, that of scaling up the manufacturing process. The nation may well have shown increasing capability in designing and manufacturing its own aircraft. However, maintaining such a sizable fleet depends on efficient supply chains, higher levels of manufacturing capability, ready availability of critical componentry and engines, maintenance facilities and an efficient supply chain of domestic providers. In other words, the future of indigenous military aviation capability will not depend solely on the design of such platforms, but on its manufacturing and sustainment capability, which is in turn driven by the demands of the military.
Handing over of Dhruv NG to Pawan Hans brings a new element to the narrative of the Indian aerospace industry. Civilian operations of the helicopter enable HAL to move out of the largely military environment and to build up an ecosystem around civil helicopter operations in India.
It also offers a glimpse into the economic aspects of aerospace self-reliance. An effective domestic aviation sector will involve not just the aircraft manufacturing company, but its suppliers, medium-small companies, engineering firms, avionics, software, maintenance, and R&D. Increased domestic production will help improve industrial capabilities and increase the number of specialist aerospace skills available.
However, the issue of self-reliance will have to be judged by the amount of dependence that is still there on critical foreign technologies and components. Airframe manufacturing capability is certainly one, but full self-reliance in aerospace would mean having control over a much larger chain of technological and industrial capability.
As senior officials from the Ministry of Defence, Civil Aviation Ministry, Indian Air Force, Pilot Helicopter Limited, regulators, and the aerospace and defence industry will attend the ceremony on September 18, the ceremony will mean more than the handover of the aircraft. It will signal an effort on the part of India to build an aviation ecosystem from basic pilot training to fighter conversion and operational capabilities to civilian helicopter services. The challenge will be whether the ecosystem will be able to produce indigenous platforms in bulk, maintain them effectively, and increasingly reduce vulnerability in critical technology and supply chains.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.