NEW DELHI —
India and Russia have signed a contract to begin preliminary work on the joint
development of a Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA). The Preliminary Design
Phase contract was signed here Oct. 12 between India’s Hindustan Aeronautics
Ltd. (HAL), its Russian partner United Aircraft Corp. — Transport Aircraft
(UAC-TA), and their joint venture, Multirole Transport Aircraft.
An Indian
Defence Ministry release quoted R.K. Tyagi, chairman of HAL, saying, “With
this, HAL and UAC-TA will start the preliminary design work immediately at
Moscow. HAL’s design team consists of 30 designers who will be positioned at
UAC-TA.”
The $600
million MTA project will operate on a 50:50 financing arrangement.
The
contract is a follow up to an intergovernmental agreement signed Nov. 12, 2007,
to design, develop and produce a multirole transport aircraft in the 15-20-ton
class. It is intended to meet the requirements of 100 aircraft for the Russian
Air Force, 45 for the Indian Air Force and 60 for other countries. India
eventually will need 205 such aircraft.
The
Preliminary Design Phase will set work-share arrangements and should be
completed in 10 months. A Detail Design Phase contract will then follow.
The
aircraft will be designed for cargo or troop transportation and airdropping of
supplies.
HAL will
carry out its share of the design and development at the Aircraft R&D
Centre at Bangalore, while its Transport Aircraft Division at Kanpur will
manufacture the prototypes and conduct subsequent serial production, the
release said.
DefenseNews
Oct. 12,
2012
By VIVEK
RAGHUVANSHI
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