Asia’s largest and India’s second helicopter factory was formally inaugurated last evening by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Tumakuru, near Bengaluru. He laid the foundation stone for the 615-acre greenfield facility in 2016.
At the event, Modi said, “From advanced assault rifles to tanks, aircraft carriers, helicopters, fighter jets, transport aircraft, India is manufacturing it all.”
The new helicopter factory built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) consists of a Heli-Runway, Flight Hangar, Final Assembly Hangar, Structural Assembly Hangar, Air Traffic Control. It is also industry 4.0 ready.
After the inauguration, HAL rolled out the new facility's first production version of its new Light Utility Helicopter (LUH). The new helicopter factory is key to HAL’s future expansion plans as it is eyeing the manufacture of more than 1,000 helicopters in the range of 3-15 tonne class, with a total business of over INR4 lakh crore over the next 20 years.
The LUH is a new indigenously designed and developed light helicopter in the three-tonne class and will be exclusively manufactured at Tumakuru.
A production capacity of 30 helicopters per year has been planned for the LUH, which can later be increased to 60 and even go up to 90 helicopters per year.
In the coming years, production of the new Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and the upcoming Indian Multirole Helicopter (IMRH), is also planned at Tumakuru. It will also undertake maintenance, repair and overhaul of LCH, LUH, Civil Advanced Light Helicopter and IMRH in the future.
The new factory joins HAL's existing helicopter production facility in Bengaluru.
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