Russian team visits HAL’s Sukhoi facility

Bangalore, Feb 21: A high-level Russian military aircraft manufacturers’ delegation visited the Sukhoi-30 MKI fighters production and overhauling facility of state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in Maharashtra’s Nasik this week, the HAL said on Friday.

"The delegation had a firsthand account of our facilities set up to roll out Sukhois (Su30 MKI) under licensed production from Russian aerospace majors," HAL chairman R.K. Tyagi said in a statement here.

The Su-30 MKI, which is the main striking force of Indian Air Force (IAF) is manufactured at the defence behemoth’s five divisions – at Nasik, Koraput in Odisha, Hyderabad and Lucknow and Korwa in Uttar Pradesh.

"We have delivered 134 Su-30 fighters to IAF so far producing them from raw material phase and incorporating 43,000 components for the airframe and 9,600 accessories," Tyagi said.

As per the multi-billion dollar contract, HAL makes 72 percent of the fighter’s components, absorbing the technology fully.

The delegation, headed by United Aircraft Corporation president Mikhail A. Pogosyan, had representatives from Rosoboronexport Irkut Corporation, RAC-MiG and Ural Optical & Mechanical plant.

Pogosyan expressed confidence that Russian and Indian specialists would achieve the tasks set for manufacturing the Su-30 fleet.

"The Su-30MKI manufacturing programme is an example of synergy between public and private partnership, as various assemblies, sub-assemblies and components are outsourced to vendors across India," Pogosyan said during the visit.

The delegation also participated in the 31st session of the Indo-Russian sub-group on aviation, a biennial event, held to discuss issues related to manufacture, repair and overhaul of aircraft, aero engines and accessories under the aegis of Indo-Russian inter-governmental commission on military technical cooperation.

"The session focused on improving serviceability of the fleet and decided to continue activities initiated in this direction with the tripartite committees formed with representatives from HAL, IAF and Russian manufacturers," the statement added.