Bengaluru: Military aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. need not fear about order flow beyond 2020–21 as its world-class facilities will not be allowed to idle, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre reassured the government-owned defence enterprise on Saturday.
He was addressing a public private partnership summit held at HAL Nashik.
A few months ago, HAL chairman and managing director T. Suvarna Raju had said “HAL has nothing else left” to make in fixed-wing aircraft after the Nashik unit delivers the Sukhoi-30MKI fighter planes in the next three years. Dr. Bhamre sought to dispel the worry.
“Given the [recent] successful integration of BrahMos on Su-30MKI, 40 more aircraft will undergo such integration. HAL can shift a part of its LCA [production] to Nashik. There is a possibility of work related to the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft happening at Nashik,” he said.