DRDO set to acquire DO-228 as the new Flight Test Bed | HAL set to roll out modified Dornier

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service

Bangalore: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is all set to acquire a new flight test bed (FTB) in the form of a modified and custom-made Dornier (DO-228) aircraft. The DRDO hopes to reduce the dependency on foreign agencies to carry out the tests, once the desi FTB is rolled out. The platform, being manufactured by Kanpur-based Transport Aircraft Division (TAD) of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), will likely to be with the DRDO by the first week of April. With all modifications, the FTB is expected to cost over Rs 100 crore. 

DRDO sources tell Express that many industries and government firms were on the hunt for a suitable platform to undertake standalone tests of critical components and systems. With the increase in indigenous aeronautical activities within the country, the initial plan was to go for a foreign aircraft and later equip it with Indian systems. "Embraer was one of the candidates we looked at. Generally the test and design data of an imported aircraft are not shared owing to the proprietary clause. We couldn't have flown our own FTB without knowing these details either. So the plane to import was shelved and DO-228 was the automatic choice. HAL's TAD Kanpur have all the expertise available with them in manufacturing the Dorniers," an official said. 

With the arrival of a new FTB, DRDO hopes that the development time for various projects will come down. "The FTB will come handy for all airborne system evaluations. We hope to test all systems of Tejas, unmanned air vehicles on the FTB. In addition, radars, antennas, radio altimeters, data links and ATOL systems (automatic take-off and landing) will now take the FTB route. So far some limited Indian radars were tested with Israeli help," the official said. DRDO has put two consoles on the yet-to-be-named FTB, with the potential for adding two more. 

The new FTB is expected to serve the needs to DRDO for the next 20 years. Currently, the Centre for Airborne Systems, DRDO lab, operates an Avro for limited tests. The new FTB will be on the rolls of Electronics & Radar Development Establishment, another DRDO lab, and it will be flown by the Test Pilots from Aircraft Systems Testing Establishment of the Indian Air Force.
Copyright@The New Indian Express

HAL gets onboard Dornier with aggressive marketing plans | Antony to hand over one HAL-DO-228 to Seychelles on Jan 31

 The Dornier (HAL-DO-228) maritime surveillance aircraft to be handed over to Seychelles on January 31. Photo: TAD, Kanpur

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service

Bangalore: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is ready with an aggressive plan to market the upgraded Dornier (HAL-DO-228) aircraft, capitalising on the market potential the company envisages in Indian regional air routes. Built by HAL’s Transport Aircraft Division (TAD) in Kanpur, the HAL-DO-228 is a highly reliable, multi-purpose, fuel efficient, rugged, light-weight twin turboprop aircraft with a retractable tricycle landing gear. The cockpit is designed to accommodate two crew members and is fitted with duplicate controls. The cabin can accommodate 19 passengers in commuter configuration.

Sharing company's plans for HAL-DO-228, chairman R K Tygai tells Express that the full aircraft structures are already being exported to Germany for assembly and supply to world-wide market. “Efforts are underway to achieve direct exports. In addition to the conducive military markets in countries like Mauritius, Nepal, Vietnam, South Africa, Afghanistan, Columbia we are keen to penetrate into civil export markets with tailor-made strategies,” Tyagi said.

He said that HAL has fitted several role-specific equipment on the aircraft, to meet the specialized requirement of customers. It has a combination of 360 deg surveillance radar, Forward Looking Infra Red (FLIR) system, electronic surveillance measures system, pollution detection and control equipment, satellite communication, data link, speech secrecy, traffic collision and avoidance system, enhanced ground proximity warning system and a host of customer-specified sensors. 

“For a sustainable growth in passenger traffic, development of regional air routes is of paramount importance. Hub and spoke (a popular point-to-point model) network is an established model wherein the regional traffic is built at selected hubs through regional spokes. The hubs thus created would fall on trunk routes catered by large airlines. The regional routes are best served initially by a smaller turbo-prop aircraft of around 19-seater category and we are pitching in on with the HAL-DO-228s, ” Tyagi said.

Defence Minister A K Antony is handing over one HAL-DO-228, maritime surveillance aircraft to the Government of Seychelles on January 31, in New Delhi. As per a contract signed last year, HAL needs to deliver another aircraft to Seychelles within a year. At Aero India-2013, starting in Bangalore on February 6, the company is displaying a reconstructed HAL-DO-228, with fully digital glass cockpit.

HAL-DO-228 general features

Maximum take-off weight: 6400 kg.

Maximum payload: 1903 kg

Fuel capacity: 2850 litre (2250 kg)

Maximum cruise speed: 428 km/hr

Engines: Two Garrett TPE 331-5-252D, each driving a four-bladed reversible pitch, fully-feathering propeller.

Roles: Regional airliner, air taxi, VIP/executive transport, maritime surveillance, reconnaissance, intelligence warfare, troop transport, para-jumping, pollution detection and control, Search and rescue, casualty evacuation, ambulance, cargo and logistics support, calibration of airport navigation aids, geographical surveys, aerial photography, anti-submarine roles. 

Copyright@The New Indian Express

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HAL inks tripartite contract for developing MTA

By M A Athul

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd signed the tripartite General Contract with United Aircraft Corporation -Transport Aircraft (UAC-TA), the Russian partner & their JV-Multirole Transport Aircraft Ltd. (MTAL) for the Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA) project on Monday, 28th May, 2012.

HAL will carry out design & development of its work share of MTA at ARDC in Bangalore while its Transport Aircraft Division (TAD) at Kanpur will manufacture the prototypes and subsequently the serial production will  be  at Kanpur, where  dedicated  facilities are being set up. HAL’s other R&D Centres and manufacturing divisions will share development of systems & LRU’s and manufacture of components, sub assemblies and composite structure. HAL will showcase its expertise in design of aircraft as well as systems, manufacturing & flight testing while jointly working with the Russian team in Moscow as well as in India.

The current MTA pact succeeds an earlier Indo-Russian governments inking an Inter Governmental Agreement for joint design, development & production of

MTA on 50:50 sharing basis and had decided to form a JV between HAL, UAC-TA & Rosoboronexport to execute the project.

The primary objective is to achieve self-reliance in design & development and production of aircraft of this size and also to manage the programme with international collaboration and large number of global suppliers.

"The aircraft will be designed for the roles of cargo/troop transportation; para-drop /air drop of supplies including Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System (LAPES) and is to be co-developed by HAL and UAC & Rosoboronexport of Russia through a Joint Venture Company (JVC)," says a release.

HAL & UAC-TA has proposed to Design, Develop and Produce Multirole Transport Aircraft in the 15-20 tone class, jointly by Indian and Russian Agencies to meet the requirement of 100 aircraft for the Russian Air Force, 45 aircraft to the IAF and 60 for other nations. Total requirement for the present is 205. The MTA project preliminary design will start immediately on signing the follow up contract on preliminary design on which tripartite discussions have been concluded.

                                                 athulmenath55@yahoo.com