HAL a Major Contributor in Development of Indo-Russia Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA)

In a series of media interviews, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)chairman Mr. Ashok Nayak reveals that HAL will play a major role in the design and development of the Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA). The USD $30-billion joint development agreement is expected to be launched with the signing of USD $295 million preliminary design contract during Russian president Dimitry Medvedev's visit to India in December 2010.

Quoting Mr. Ashok Nayak:

We will be a part of the team designing the IAF variant of the aircraft, and will be manufacturing it in India as well. While we have had certain amount of experience designing aircraft, playing a role in the design and development of next generation combat features, such as stealth and super cruise, will add to our knowledge

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We will be working on the single-seater combat aircraft to a certain extent. That is because we have to understand the entire design process of the aircraft and then move on to the twin-seater version
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Design, development and production of the aircraft will be shared between the two countries. Our pilots will be flying the aircraft. Whether this will be done in Bangalore or Nasik, is yet to be decided. We could build it in Nasik and fly it in Bangalore
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The company will have to expand. We have to ensure that we have that much more capacity to handle these (the Sukhoi and FGFA production lines). We need to achieve our timescales, and be slightly ahead of schedules. We also have to decide, how much work can be retained in-house, and the amount that can be done by outside industries
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Once the full design contract is signed, we will talk about the development and manufacturing aspect of the FGFA. Whether everything can be done in India, or some elements will have to be sourced from there, will be decided then. Sticking to the timescale will be critical

Notes
While the Indian Air Force is more interested in the twin seater version of the air craft -- HAL will play a key role in the development of both the single seater and twin seater versions of the air craft

The Russian Air Force has a preference for the single seater variant

The final design contract for the FGFA programme is expected to be signed in the middle of 2010