India and Russia have finally agreed on the workshare and shareholders agreement for a joint venture company that will develop and build the Multirole Transport Aircraft, based on the Ilyushin-214 concept. The Joint Venture Company (JVC) is being established with its headquarters at Bangalore, India to execute the MTA project in which HAL and Russian participants will have equal shareholding.
A Defence Ministry statement this morning said, “A Joint Venture will now be formed between Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and the Russian Partners namely United Aircraft Corporation & Rosoboronexport to co-develop and co-produce Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA).”
The MTA is to be a 15-20 tonne payload capacity aircraft for the Indian and Russian air forces. The main features of MTA are: maximum take-off weight 65 tonnes, payload capacity 15-20-tons, cruise speed 800-km/h, range 2500-2700-km, service ceiling 12-km. The aircraft will have two engines, state of the art features such as fly-by-wire, full authority digital engine control, modern avionics and glass cockpit.
The total development cost is expected to be approximately $600.70-million (approx Rs 2,900-crore) to be equally shared by both the sides. The initial plan is to manufacture 205 aircraft.
MTA Photo By Shiv Aroor, More here
Well done Shiv; good first reporting before others. Keep up the good job n keep the trend going.
hope it will go succesful like brahmos
HAL is doing better job then DRDO
shiv sir can the MTA be used for the future platform of india's awacs just like IL-76.
It's a huge mistake by keeping the range within 3000 kms.According to reports IAF is looking to replace it's old AN-32s with this plane but I think that to replace IAF don't need a jet plane.An advanced Turbo-prop like this-C-27J
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alenia_C-27J
would be an ideal contender.It can land in semi prepared runways and even on roads,flattened hilltops.The jet planes cannot do this.Also by selecting that jet plane with such a limited range,IAF wont have the strategic air lift capability for which it is craving for.Also it cannot ferry our ARJUNS.Then there's no point in selecting this.
This would be a very useful platform for the IAF if this turns out to be dependable, economical, hardy & punctual in delivery.The chances of this plane flying in 4 years look to be very high, given the Russian commitment.
With a 20 ton payload, these planes almost offer the same payload as the C-130. I just hope they are not as pricey as the C-130.
The AN-32's in use today are economical, extremely hardy but have downtime.
Any introduction to a new platform is in-complete without the unit cost. What would be the per unit cost of the MTA?
I believe the IAF would have a requirement of close to 45+ units of these, if the AN-32 is going to be replaced. Come to think of it, the HS-748 is also on its last leg. The HS-748 was supposed to be replaced by the SARAS-but then the SARAS is not going to see the light of the day, nor the darkness of the night-for that matter. So, the actual IAF requirement might be higher than 45 stated here.
I see a few comments by folks who are confusing heavy air lift aircraft with medium air lift aircraft. Guys-the C-17 (if bought)/IL-78's take care of heavy lift. These planes typically transport MBT's/Artillery. They are more expensive aircraft-both in cost & operation. AN-32's currently do the medium lifting. C-130J's would add to this in future. They transport Troops/Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC's).They are cheaper-cost+operation.
Please learn about transport aircraft segments before spewing garbage here.
TATHAGATA
Here we go again, jumping head first into another "me too" project seeking to reinvent the wheel.
EMBRAER, a World-class company, is seeking partners for their KC-390 project. One quick look at the spec sheet will show that it is substantially the same aircraft as proposed here.
What exactly is India going to learn from the Russian aircraft industry that it hasn't yet?
Can this Aircraft be converted for Air to ground targeting system supported by on board accurate firing guns. Like the US's Special Air commandos have done with the Hercules.
@Tathagata
My question is do these jet planes have STOL capability?Can they land in very short,semi prepared air strips? Or in flattened hill tops which AN-32s or Alenia C-27 J can very ably do?
@ Jayanta
STOL capability-Has to be there, otherwise they would not be pegging them as AN-32 replacements. Taking off from short, semi-prepared strips: As i said, these things would appear at the top of the design specifications that HAL/Russia is handed by the IAF. Look at the model aircraft closely-you would see the jets perched high and the refuelling probe on top of the fuselage. Classic signs of aircraft designed to operate from dusty, un-prepared strips.
This platform is at a very initial phase currently-you might have noted i had an open question on the per unit cost. But when the IAF is taking the pain to sign up to a new platform instead of signing up for existing platforms like C-27, C-130J etc-I am very sure that the capabilities asked of by IAF will be better than that of AN-32 currently.
Now whether it will become a reliable monster with a cost 1/3rd that of C-130J/C-27 is the open question?
Also, just read your previous post. My two cents, C-27 is really not a very high jump over AN32-in terms of capabilities but a big jump in cost.I am sure the C-27 reliability will be much higher than the 32's. But keep in mind that the C-27's come with a price tag higher than the IAF paid for the heavy lift IL-78.
TATHAGATA
The total development cost is expected to be approximately $600.70-million (approx Rs 2,900-crore) to be equally shared by both the sides. The initial plan is to manufacture 205 aircraft.