HAL Signs Tripartite Agreement On Multirole Transport Aircraft

HAL Statement: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd has signed a tripartite General Contract with United Aircraft Corporation -Transport Aircraft (UAC-TA), their Russian partner and their JV, Multirole Transport Aircraft Ltd (MTAL) for the Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA) project.

HAL will carry out the design & development of its workshare of MTA at Aircraft R&D (ARDC) Centre at Bangalore while its Transport Aircraft Division (TAD) at Kanpur will manufacture the prototypes. Serial production will take place at Kanpur where dedicated  facilities are being set up. HAL’s other R&D Centres and manufacturing divisions will share development of systems & LRUs and manufacture of components, sub assemblies and composite structure. HAL will showcase its expertise in design of aircraft as well as systems, manufacturing & flight testing while jointly working with the Russian team in Moscow as well as in India.

The Indian and Russian governments had earlier signed an Inter Governmental Agreement for joint design, development & production of MTA on 50:50 sharing basis and had decided to form a JV between HAL, UAC-TA & Rosoboronexport to execute the project. The primary objective is to achieve self-reliance in design & development and production of aircraft of this size and also to manage the programme with international collaboration and a large number of global suppliers.

The aircraft will be designed for the roles of cargo/troop transportation; para-drop /air drop of supplies including Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System (LAPES). The joint effort seeks to meet a requirement of 100 aircraft for the Russian Air Force, 45 aircraft to the IAF and 60 for export. Total requirement for the present is 205.

The MTA project preliminary design will start immediately after signing the follow-up contract on preliminary design on which tripartite discussions have been concluded.

23 thoughts on “HAL Signs Tripartite Agreement On Multirole Transport Aircraft”

  1. I hope engine will not be our part of workshare. If that is the part of our work share, whole world will be making daily trips to moon and we are testing our turboprop or turbofan engines which are again underpower.

  2. 45 is not just enough for IAF. The order should be minimum 120 keeping in mind the obsolete avros. Also it can be used for BSF,ITBP,NSG and also for special missions.

  3. In at least some of such large scale joint ventures, why can't we insist to develop engine in India with some Russian engineers in the team? That way Indians can get first hand experience in development of an engine.

  4. Another set of false promises to fool India by HAL. If history means anything, what did HAL produce in last 15 years on its own? Why should India be burdened with these planes even if better alternatives are available? Partnerships happen with equal partners. HAL can not design anything. All they do is license manufacture foreign products.
    Time to privatize HAL, Air India, BHEL

  5. HAL must consult the end users of transport aircraft right from the beginning. IAF should be in the loop for all matters
    Related to air aspects of the MTA . However the cargo compartment becomes the business of the ARMY.

  6. HAL has more in its plate than it can chew…..they've proved themselves jack of everything but unfortunately masters of none whether its aircraft, helicopter or engine technologies.

  7. A good move…but HAL and other Co s are needed to work hard to make this happen ASAP.
    Not sure what's the time line for MTA induction to IAF and when our upgraded An-32's are going to retire from service….since India has already bought C-17 long range heavy lift aircraft from USA, hence this was a perfect decision to balance of our assets ..not to buy all transport ac s from single source. Just to be safe and to be ready ..in case there is any US sanction imposed on India again in the future (We are hearing and US has said to India loudly and clearly …. to be ready to face sanction if it does not cut it’s oil import from Iran).

  8. I fully agree with Anonymous @4:20.

    HAL is basically a Photo-Copier and nothing else.

    These days, "license production" has become a bad word. So HAL tries to disguise its license production like the MTA.

    Other examples of Joint-development-but-in-Reality-just-Licence-manufacture

    1) PAK-FA

    2) Proposed LCH

    3) MTA

    4) Some Israeli UAVs ?

  9. What will be the the delivery year? It has to be very realistic- How about year 2100? Atleast then, there won't be any delays, hopefully.

  10. Hal contribution should be limited to money ,composits, little software integration if they go beyond that we may see elephant leg landinggare or overweight plane and forget about induction they will keep test the plane IOC 1,2,3 and foc 1,2,3 and the induction will go beyond 2030

  11. khass LCA project do in joint vent8ure then result is differant to present engine and structure make in russia and avuinics made in india opps on isriael or india purchase IAI lavy blueprint but HAL,NAL convert LCA a govt. file. ha ha ha

  12. In one if the comments below someone said HAL is a photocopier. It would be lovely if they were a modern photocopier that is available today. HAL is an outdated rattling photocopier with the toner worn out. Its time to reopen HAL by reinterviewing everyone from top to bottom and rehire only those who have a good work ethic and attitude. MTA is another sham. Let them produce what they are mandated to do, and that too well like a good photocopier.

  13. This is a utter waste and a terrible scam. HAL can't design a bi-plane if it's life depended on it and now they want to build a transport aircraft ??

    Ridiculous!

    Why does the MoD support these clowns at HAL anyway ?? We've seen their genius at work when they tried to build the HJT-Kiran or IJT. Both disasters!

    India should instead buy more C-130s or C-17s and simplify its life instead of building another aircraft into its inventory! The russians aren't going to buy this and this will end up a white elephant that only India will buy!

  14. Fantastic news; please watch this space for a full-blown scam after 10 years (as if it could lead to anything else…)

    Forget about advanced airlift aircraft, the morons at HAL cannot design even a simple turboprop trainer so that we don't spend valuable FE on the PC-7. What a bugger's muddle it is at HAL and DRDO and all these incestuous govt organisations.

    Ok, design is tough but these clowns cannot even reverse engineer like their infinitely more capable and MOTIVATED counterparts in China.And no, they are not even copiers, they are just lobotomised robots on an assembly line, that's all.

  15. hmmm…

    lot of discouragement…

    first if it is as earlier reports then the engine will be PS90 the one used in IL 78 tankers..

    And work like a small C17, and Russia will definitely by (think Brahmos)…

    it will not be build by HAL separete company willl be created as like Brahmos and perform like Brahmose too …
    i hope iduction of full scale production before 2020….

  16. why all these tall tales with no results whatsoever…and why with a country that has been the bane of all our delays ….have we not learnt our lessons well??? its time we looked elsewhere instead of signing pacts and documents that leave no footprint on the ground, what so ever

  17. why all these tall tales with no results whatsoever…and why with a country that has been the bane of all our delays ….have we not learnt our lessons well??? its time we looked elsewhere instead of signing pacts and documents that leave no footprint on the ground, what so ever

  18. If it was ADA, i could have trusted. but HAL. Big Joke. If anything they will delay this project. Either buy more American C-130s or Fund the Russians to make MRTA for us. Putting HAL in scheme of things will only mess the project.

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