Skip to main content

Orders dry up, HAL staff could sit idle


·         The aircraft division in Bengaluru, with around 3,000 employees, has no orders
·         Thousands of employees are worried at the prospect of sitting idle for months
·         The DAC has cleared procurement of 15 LCHs, but no orders have been placed

Defence public sector unit Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is staring at a depleting order book and thousands of employees are worried at the prospect of sitting idle for months.

HAL has 29,035 employees, including 9,000 engineers, spread across nine locations — Bengaluru (Karnataka), Nashik (Maharashtra), Lucknow, Kanpur and Korwa (UP), Barrackpore (West Bengal), Hyderabad (Telangana), Kasargod (Kerala) and Koraput (Odisha).

A new helicopter complex in Tumakuru (Karnataka) is under development and, upon its inauguration, some employees will be transferred there. The aircraft division in Bengaluru, with around 3,000 employees, has no orders.

With Jaguar and Mirage upgrade programmes, they’re hoping to be diverted to the LCA Tejas division, which has about 2,000 staffers. “We were hoping to bag the 108-plane deal (Rafale) said a source in HAL. HAL has to get orders for 83 additional Tejas, else these employees will be idle. While the Defence Acquisition Council has cleared procurement of 83 Tejas fighters, the actual order from IAF is yet to arrive. “A cost committee has been constituted but it’ll be months before it’s finalised. Until then, there’s no work,” another source said.

The Sukhoi Complex in Nashik, which has 5,000 employees, has orders for 17 months. Of 222 Su-30 MK-I aircraft, only the last batch of 23 is pending delivery. “We’ve consistently delivered 12 planes annually. After March 2020, there’s no work,” the source said.

HAL hoped to use the Nashik facility for the proposed joint venture with Russia, which envisaged a fifth-generation fighter aircraft but it has not taken off. This will also reduce work at five other centres — three in UP and those in Hyderabad and Kasargod — which work on Su-30 subsystems.

The only division with some business is the helicopter division, which is working on orders for 73 advanced light helicopters and awaiting orders for light combat helicopters. The DAC has cleared procurement of 15 LCHs, but no orders have been placed.

“The actual number must be 155 and 15 is the first batch. We’re hoping for more,” the source said. “We also have the light utility helicopter (LUH), which will soon get initial operational clearance. We expect orders there too. India needs over 1,000 choppers,” the source said.
Source Link: http://www.defencenews.in/article/Orders-dry-up,-HAL-staff-could-sit-idle-581167

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 10 Best Sainik Schools In India as per NDA Selection

In this article you will get to know about Best Sainik Schools in India, Best Sainik School of India and top 10 Sainik schools in India When India became independent, most of the officers in the defense at that time used to come from elite families. To rectify the regional and class imbalance amongst the Officer cadre of the India Military, V.K Krishna Menon came up with the idea of Sainik Schools. The idea was to prepare students for Entry in the NDA. In Sainik Schools, deserving students can get high-quality education irrespective of their income or class background. The mission of Sainik schools is to prepare the cadets academically, physically, and mentally to enter the portals of the NDA. Today there are 33 Sainik schools running and proposed for future covering all the states of the country. But it has always been a topic of discussion that which of these is the best Sainik School school in India. Why do children take admission in Sainik Schools?  So that they can become offi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Explained: What is Army Aviation Corps, the youngest Corps of the Indian Army

A look at the Army Aviation Corps’ history and its relevance in modern day battlefields, including in Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism (CI-CT) operations. Representative Image The Army Aviation Corps (AAC), the youngest Corps of the Indian Army, celebrated its 35th Corps Day on November 1. We take a look at the arm that adds an air dimension to the Army’s capabilities, its history, and its relevance in modern day battlefields, including Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism (CI-CT) operations. The roots of Army Aviation Corps The origin of the AAC can be traced back to the raising of the Army Aviation wing of the Royal Air Force in India in 1942, and the subsequent formation of the first Indian Air Observation Post in August 1947. The Air Observation Post units primarily acted as artillery spotters – which are the elements that help the artillery in directing the fire and also giving air support to ground forces. In the wars of 1965 and 1971, the Air Observation Post helicop...
Post a Comment
Read more

That time when India took half of Pakistan to make it pay for a motorcycle

In 1947, British officer Yahya Khan offered his colleague 1,000 rupees for his spiffy red motorcycle. His colleague, Sam Manekshaw, agreed. But before Khan could pay, he was off to what was going to become Pakistan. The British split its Indian colony, and things on the subcontinent have been pretty tense ever since. To top it all off, Yahya Khan didn't pay for the motorbike. But he would, even if it took almost 25 years. The Partition of India was much more than the splitting of the British Raj into two independent states. It was a catastrophic split that tore apart the country and created millions of refugees, cost millions of lives, and split the armed forces of the country in two, all based on religion. Violence erupted almost immediately between the two groups on such a large scale that much of it has never been forgotten or forgiven. Animosity continued between both sides for decades, and the two have fought war after war because of the myriad issues left unaddressed. By 1970...
Post a Comment
Read more