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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

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