Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has bagged a $5-million export contract from civil aero and defence engine major Rolls-Royce.
HAL will export its first batch of ring forgings to Rolls-Royce. These will be incorporated into the Rolls-Royce civil aero engines under manufacture in the UK for worldwide operations.
The company has met all the systems and process approvals of Rolls-Royce and is now a member of the Rolls-Royce supply chain.
"HAL will export these ring forgings to Rolls-Royce at a value of $5 million over the next three years and this could potentially grow to $10 million over the next five years," N R Mohanty, chairman, HAL said.
HAL already has the licence to manufacture the Adour engines for the Indian Air Force Jaguar fleet.
It is also licensed to repair a number of Rolls-Royce engines. According to company officials, the current agreement is also expected to spill over into more such manufacturing contracts between the two companies.
"The HAL ring rolled forgings will be incorporated in the engines including our Trent 800, which is now on offer to Air India for the Boeing 777," Tim Jones, managing director, Rolls-Royce India said.
HAL has also announced a joint venture with French-based Snecma for the manufacture of small aero engines for civil aircraft. The venture also includes an export order from Snecma for turbochargers.
With a number of renowned companies evincing interest in HAL, the aviation major is re-positioning itself as a full-fledged aerospace company.
A bulky order book position is expected to propel the company to a projected sales target of over Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) this year.
Among the big projects being handled by HAL are engine upgradation for Cheetah helicopters, MiG 21s, MiG 27s and Jaguars. The company also has a $5-billion order from Russia for the manufacture of Sukhoi 30 sub assemblies.
N R Mohanty, chairman, HAL said the company has invested Rs 70 crore (Rs 700 million) to set up the Centre of Excellence in Bangalore.
This centre, comprising of two hangars, will be functional within the next 18 months and will be utilised for assembling and machining purposes.
Mohanty said HAL's newly-introduced Advanced Light Helicopter for civil aviation has received good response.
"We have already bagged our first customer called Azal India Ltd, which is based in Mumbai. We will dry lease the prototype of the machine to Azal for six months. After this period, Azal will return the prototype and buy a new machine from HAL," he added.
The ALH would cost Azal about Rs 35 crore (Rs 350 million) and this may be followed by a deal for procurement of two more machines by Azal.
Mohanty said that despite the progress made by HAL in recent years, exports were beginning to look up only now.
"As we were busy handling specific projects for various companies, our exports have not been satisfying. But looking at the demand for our products and interest shown by the world aviation market for our Intermediate Jet Trainer and Advanced Jet Trainer, we are targeting exports worth Rs 100 crore during this year," he added.
