The Defence Ministry on Monday signed a ₹26,000-crore contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for 240 AL-31FP aero engines for Su-30MKI aircraft. The Russian engines are assembled under license by HAL in India. The Cabinet Committee on Security approved the deal last week.
The contract was inked by the senior officials of MoD and HAL in the presence of Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari.
These aeroengines will be manufactured by the Koraput Division of HAL, and are expected to fulfil the need of the Indian Air Force to sustain the operational capability of the Su-30 fleet for the defence preparedness of the country, a Ministry statement said.
“HAL would supply 30 aero-engines per annum as per the contractual delivery schedule. The supply of all 240 engines would be completed over the period of next eight years.”
During the manufacturing, HAL plans to take support from the country’s defence manufacturing ecosystem, involving MSMEs, public and private industries, the statement said. By the end of the delivery programme, HAL would enhance the indigenisation content up to 63% to achieve an average of over 54%, the Ministry said adding, “This would also help increase the indigenous content of Repair and Overhaul tasks of the aero-engines.”
“We will be indigenising almost 1,000 parts (of the engine) with the help of local industry. This will also give a boost to the development of engine ecosystem in the country,” said Dr D.K., Sunil, Chairman and Managing Director (additional charge).
Officials said that the 240 AL-31FP engines are for continued operation of SU-30MKI aircraft, as the engine has definite technical life and to be replaced after completion of engine life. “This order is not connected with aircraft upgradation that has just been embarked,” officials clarified. These engines are for the fleet sustenance requirement of the Su-30MKI fleet, another official said.
The IAF has a fleet of 259 Su-30MKIs, of the 272 contracted, manufactured in India under license from Russia. Purchase of 12 jets to replace those crashed over the years has been approved. The long pending upgrade of the fleet is now being executed with 84 jets to be upgraded initially by HAL over 15 years, as reported by The Hindu earlier.
The IAF chief had stated earlier that the 84 jets will see the upgradation of 51 systems with an indigenous content of 78%. The Su-30s will remain in service beyond 2055.
As reported earlier, the original equipment manufacturer Russia would be involved in upgrading the fly-by-wire system, integration of systems among others while majority of the upgrades including radar and avionics will be indigenous. As part this, the indigenous Uttam Advanced Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is planned to be integrated on the jets.
Published - September 09, 2024 09:53 pm IST
