Indian aerospace company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has opened its second Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Division that will enable it to increase the production capacity of LCA which is expected to be the backbone of the Indian Air Force ( IAF) fighter aircraft fleet in years to come. HAL recently bagged an order to supply 83 LCA Tejas Mk-1A fighter aircrafts to the IAF. (Indian Air Force to get 83 LCA Tejas Mk 1-A worth about 48,000 Cr)
“The phase -1 of the facility getting ready on 35 acres of land will enable HAL to enhance its production capacity to 16 from the current eight aircraft every year,” said R Madhavan, CMD, HAL.
The State of the art machines such as CNC profilers, 5 axis machining centers, etc., for producing technologically challenging, High pressure fluid cell press machine, Test rigs, specialized facilities for Heat Treatment, special processes and hangars for structural assembly of aircraft are being created in New LCA Complex. Production tooling and productivity improvement initiatives have also been undertaken by adopting latest simulation software packages under capacity augmentation.
Subsequently, in this facility, structural assemblies of LCA Mk-1A will be produced to meet the desired delivery rate of as per the Contract. The Government cleared the proposal for procurement of 83 LCA Mk1A aircraft on January 13, 2021, which will be produced in two production lines at Bengaluru with over 500 plus production partners across India. All the 83 aircraft would be delivered to Indian Air Force in the next decade commencing 36 months from contract signing. HAL would be delivering 16 aircraft in a year to the Air Force.