Tamil Nadu eyes Rs 75,000 crore investment in aerospace and defence corridor
CHENNAI: In a further impetus to the State's manufacturing sector, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday released a new aerospace and defence industrial policy to garner Rs 75,000 crore in investments and generate 10 lakh jobs in Tamil Nadu over a period of 10 years. The CM also inaugurated Tamil Nadu Advanced Manufacturing Centre of Excellence (TAMCOE) and Tamil Nadu Smart and Advanced Manufacturing Centre (TANSAM) at the ‘Future is now-Towering Tamil Nadu’ conclave held in Chennai.
The CM said the state is setting up infrastructure for a manufacturing sector to prepare it for Industry 4.0. This would also benefit small and medium enterprises, he said.
TAMCOE being set up by Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) and GE aviation at an outlay of Rs 141 crore will enable research and prototype making using additive manufacturing technology while TANSAM being set up by TIDCO and Siemens at an outlay of Rs 251.54 crore will cater to sectors like aerospace, electric vehicle (EV), marine, green energy, biotech, industrial automation, robotics and others, the CM said.
TAMCOE will work towards the technology development of aviation engine parts such as compressor heat exchangers, combustor components, casing, frames, gears, and splines. It will also take up projects in the development of predictive analytical solutions for additive manufacturing (AM) for Industry 4.0. Metal Additive Manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is a scalable manufacturing technology whose adoption is being deployed at scale across many industries, globally. Additive manufacturing innovation is being led by the aerospace and defence, healthcare, and automotive sectors, which were early adopters and are now super-users of the technology.
The 1,50,000sqft TAMCOE facility in Tidel Park, Taramani, is expected to harness the potential of additive manufacturing in Tamil Nadu and support India’s national additive manufacturing strategy by creating a hub for generation and dissemination of knowledge as well as transferable skills for supporting local industrial ecosystem development in Tamil Nadu. It will also develop and share process knowledge using additive technologies for key growth industries such as aerospace, medical and orthopaedic and automotive sectors.
TANSAM will provide support to build entrepreneurship. The centre will work for innovations and product development and will bring more patents for Tamil Nadu. Also, it will be aligned to the state education policy and adhere to the national skill qualification framework to provide job-oriented training to learners. It will support advanced skill development to build future skill force that can meet global technical manpower requirements. The TANSAM Centre of Excellence has seven specialized centres at Tidel Park in Chennai. These are Innovative Manufacturing Centre, Smart Factory Research Center, Augmented Reality Virtual Reality Research Lab, Centre for Asset Performance Management (IoT), Research Centre for Product Lifecycle Management, Product Innovation Centre and Centre for Predictive Analytics.
The chief minister also launched the Tamil Nadu Aerospace and Defence Policy, 2022, which supersedes the one launched in 2019. The policy, which is valid till March 31, 2026, aims to attract investments worth Rs 75,000 crore ($10bn) and generate one lakh jobs over a period of 10 years.
The focus of the new policy is to bring investments in aircraft standard parts and drones, armoured vehicles, tanks and specialist vehicles, aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), missiles, rockets and ammunition, sensors, radars, communication and electronic warfare, small arms and assault rifles, space and shipbuilding.
The CM said aircraft component manufacturing moved to Chennai in 1910 from Europe and the United States. “Even today, majority of aircraft components are being produced in Tamil Nadu to serve the Bengaluru-headquartered Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
An opportunity has now emerged to boost production and attain self-sufficiency in this sector. Considering the opportunities available in the sector, the government has announced aerospace and defence industries as sunrise sector,” he said.
Appealing to the industrialists present at the venue to utilise the opportunities available in Tamil Nadu, the CM exhorted everyone to take a vow to make Tamil Nadu the best state in economic development not just in India but in the whole of South Asia.
Meanwhile, TIDCO has signed an agreement with Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi and DE Drone for setting up training centres for drone pilots in Coimbatore and Madurai. Around 200 students will be trained to operate unmanned aerial vehicles at the training centres inaugurated by the CM on Tuesday. The initiative will generate 2,500 jobs a year. This would also give a chance for those in rural areas to become UAV pilots, Stalin added.