Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Tuesday strengthened its position as a leading aerospace export house when it handed over the first rear fuselage for the Gulfstream (G-150) aircraft to Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI).
HAL Chairman Mr Ashok Nayak handed over the documents of the HAL-built Aft (rear) fuselage for G-150 to Mr Shlomi Karako, General Manager, Business Jets Division, IAI, at a simple function at HAL’s Aircraft Division in Bangalore. Gulfstream (G-150) is a business executive aircraft built in Israel and transported to the United States for further furnishing. The G-150 is marketed the world over by the US-based Gulfstream Corporation.
Ready for more challenges, says Nayak: The Aircraft Division has made a mark on the international export map over the years by supplying several types of door assemblies to Boeing, Airbus and other global firms. “With the G-150 fuselage delivery HAL has now entered a fairly advanced manufacturing level of building major structural assemblies for global players in the civil sector. The G-150 project augurs well not only for HAL, but also for the national objective of producing a civil aircraft of international standards,” Mr Ashok Nayak said.
He also attributed the success of the project to the involvement of the private sector and expressed hope that the Company would bag more orders in the future. “The G-150 programme has given us huge confidence in taking up bigger challenges. We are now looking forward to the G-250 programme and we have made our strong presence felt in the bidding process. HAL-IAI has a time-tested partnership and we are here to capitalize on the vast potential in the business jet market,” Mr Nayak added.
Quality at its best, says Israel: HAL’s ability to deliver the G-150 fuselage on time came in for praise from the strong contingent of IAI officials. “To us, this is a champion product. We have seen closely HAL’s capabilities in handling new technologies and new IT processes. For us the Gulfstream fuselage is a perfect example of synergy and quality,” Mr Shlomi Karako of IAI said.
About the project: The IAI approached HAL with a request for quotation (RFQ) for building the fuselage in December 2006, since they required a partner to build the fuselage from digital data for the first time. (This process was against the legacy of paper drawings from which hundreds of aircraft were built in Israel.) The contract for producing 200 ship-sets of G-150 fuselages was signed in 2007, and a dedicated state-of-the-art hangar came up in Bangalore within nine months.
The programme also saw significant and close collaborative efforts between HAL and IAI in realizing the hardware through web-based design data transfer. It also brought together the Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Civil Aviation Authority of Israel (CAAI). HAL has a seven-year schedule to deliver 200 fuselage ship-sets to Israel.
i feel HAL need to better concentrate on Indigenous Production of Aircraft's like the way China Aviation Industry Corporation I & II are doing instead of doing labour and petty jobs like the fuselage or the doors for Airbus or Boeing.
Common HAL it's already 60+ years over since the day we got Independence – come out of being slave to foreigners….
Trust our left parties to come up with a press release condemning HAL’s action which is designed to help Zionist Isreal’s development………..
@ Vin
Plz let the guys earn some money to keep them going. Do you think Chengdu & Shengyang never made nething for the foreigners? The Chinese did that too & are still doing it. wt do u think JF-17/FC-1 is. It actually is a UK Super-7 order that never materialised. By working on such projects we tend to also learn a few new tricks of the trade that help us improve the next indigenous design apart from filling our coffers.
Let's praise them for their well done job. Also dont forget – if they are well established as exporters, the import lobby will nor be able to make noises it does today. (or r u the vin chhadha from the import lobby – just kidding)
@ SmarterOne,
Don`t you feel your statement is supporting copying work ??? ( – in exams…- kidding )….
smarter one ! u are smarter than that dumb vin…yes you are right .we can learn a lot in doing these types of works.whole HAL is not involved in this. only a section or dept undertakes these jobs! Beg,borrow,steal ..thats is the motto! There is nothing like having indigeneous capability. china has the capacity to xerox the entire su-27 and calls it J-11. In due course it will wxprot it to pakis!