BENGALURU: As part of the pact signed with Rolls-Royce, Defence Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will supply spares for the Adour Global Supply chain, and thereby support the former's international defence customer base.
Adour is a twin-spool, counter-rotating turbofan engine by Rolls-Royce whose defence segment is a market leader in aero engines for military transport and patrol aircraft with strong positions in combat and helicopter applications, as per the company. The agreement was signed and exchanged between B Krishna Kumar, Executive Director (Engine & IMGT), HAL and Abhishek Singh, Senior Vice President – Defence, India and South East Asia, Rolls Royce, in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
Rolls-Royce and HAL had signed an MoU during the Aero India 2021 to establish an Authorized Maintenance Centre for Adour at HAL, to support international military customers and operators. Through this partnership, Rolls-Royce aims to strengthen the ecosystem for Adour engines in India by building on HAL’s existing capabilities for manufacturing and supporting the Adour engines for Indian customers over several decades, said a release by HAL.
R. Madhavan, CMD, HAL said "We look forward to working with Rolls-Royce to build on this capability to serve global market for supply of spares and MRO of Adour engines."
This is the first order for the supply of spares for the Adour Global Supply chain, he added.
"We look forward to working with Rolls-Royce to build on this capability to serve the global market for the supply of spares and MRO of Adour engines. HAL has the capability and capacity to support a large defence customer base, with over 30 years experience of supporting repair and maintenance services for the Adour engines in India," he further said, hoping that the partnership would expand the defence sourcing footprint in India.
Kishore Jayaraman, President, Rolls-Royce India and South Asia from Rolls-Royce called the partnership a significant step towards strengthening the defence manufacturing ecosystem in India, and "to help catapult India’s vision for the defence sector to ‘make in India’ for the world."
Alex Zino, Executive Vice President – Business Development and Future Programmes (Defence) said, "This is our first defence supplies agreement in India and creates an opportunity for India to increase its defence exports given the robust demand forecast for high precision components in this sector."
He expressed excitement in expanding the long-standing partnership with HAL to support long term sustainment of Adour engines for both Indian and global customers. "We believe that HAL’s expertise in manufacturing and supporting Adour engines will pave the way for several of our customers to successfully operate the Adour engines for many more years," he added.