Photographer: Prakash Singh / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Prakash Singh / AFP / Getty Images
The Tata Group, India’s largest conglomerate, is preparing to build a military aircraft to boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mission to support local defense capabilities and reduce dependence on expensive imports.
Stuck up close Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. will “show its capabilities in high-altitude twin-engine aircraft” for military use at a defense exhibition in Bengaluru this week, a company spokesman said in an email on Tuesday, without disclosing more details. The Economic Times previously reported that the company Tata had acquired the necessary intellectual property rights from a platform of German origin.
The venture, if successful, will mark the first time that a private sector entity has managed to build military-grade aircraft – an area of expertise in high technology that has traditionally been the exclusive domain of the state sponsor Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. or foreign defense contractors. It also highlights Modi’s drive for ‘Self-sufficient India ‘e’Make In India ‘- its exclusive programs that aim to boost local manufacturing and consumption.
Border Surveillance
The new Tata aircraft, once installed, can be used for border surveillance, among other military purposes. It will be presented at Aero India 2021, the spokesman said. The aerospace and defense exhibition that is organized every other year in the city of Bengaluru, in southern India, will be held from 3 to 5 February.
While Modi’s initiatives have opened billions of dollars worth of business prospects for Indian conglomerates such as Tata Group, Adani Group, Larsen & Toubro Ltd. and Mahindra & Mahindra Group, the ability to manufacture military aircraft requires deep pockets and tenacity to overcome various setbacks. Many Indian groups have been trying to make such aircraft for decades, with little success.
So far, only Hindustan Aeronautics has achieved this feat. It produced the twin-engine HF-24 Marut six decades ago – India’s first indigenous fighter-bomber – and, more recently, developed the light combat aircraft, Tejas.
“Any new venture in the aerospace field is welcome as it adds to the ecosystem,” said air marshal Ragunath Nambiar, former deputy chief of the Indian Air Force. He also warned that he was not sure whether the Indian Air Force needed enough aircraft “in the near future to justify a production line”.