KOCHI: The National Aeronautics Laboratories (NAL) should drop the Saras project, the plan to develop a 14-seater indigenous multi-purpose civilian aircraft, and concentrate on developing a 70-seater regional jet aircraft, said Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) former chairman C G Krishnadas Nair here on Wednesday.
“Saras is an outdated project, whereas a much-advanced 17-seater aircraft is being developed under the Make in India project in Kanpur. There won’t be any takers for Saras. Instead, NAL should join hands with HAL and leverage its experience and capabilities to develop the 70 -seater regional jet,” Nair, who arrived in Kochi to participate in the three-day Aviation Innovation Exposition and Workshop told ‘Express’.
“HAL acquired the capability to develop passenger aircraft decades ago and we had a proposal to develop a 110-seater aircraft. But we were prevented from entering the passenger aircraft development sector and asked to concentrate on defence projects,” said Nair.
He said even the government has issued a directive to the NAL to work with HAL or private investors to develop the regional jet.
“There is nothing wrong in big corporates having little experience in aviation sector joining hands with foreign companies to manufacture fighter jets. Indian corporates will hire experienced people from HAL and DRDO and acquire technology. But the government should insist these joint ventures should manufacture 30 to 40 per cent of the components in India.
It should not be a mere facility for assembling imported components. This will create more employment, generate wealth and create capability,” he said.
“If it is too costly for the investors to establish a manufacturing facility, they can partner with small and medium enterprises (SME) having infrastructure. We have a strong SME sector. They can also have strategic alliance with public sector units like Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and HAL, where manpower, machinery are available,” said Nair.
He said while it was good to encourage private sector, it should not be at the cost of public sector. “We should allow them to work together and synergise their capabilities,” he said.
When Boeing and Airbus arrived in China to explore the market, the government insisted they should establish a manufacturing facility in the country, he said.
“This helped the country develop capability and create more employment. India should take a similar stand. Ours is a growing market and the private airline companies are acquiring hundreds of aircraft,” he said.
Saras project
14-seater indigenous civilian aircraft took to the skies in January this year
Project sanctioned in 1999
First prototype in 2004
Project dropped in 2009 and revived in 2016