April 04, 2008	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 26, 1429

BANGALORE, April 3: India’s state-owned military-plane maker Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) said on Thursday that a joint venture to develop a multi-role transport aircraft has reached the takeoff point.

HAL is partnering Russia’s Ilyushin Design Bureau in the $600 million project, to which the two companies will contribute equally, HAL Chairman Ashok Baweja told a news conference here.

“The funding is ready and the programme is now on,” Baweja said of talks which dragged on since first conceived in the first half of this decade.

The 60-ton tactical transport aircraft, meant to serve the armed forces of the two countries, would take six-to-seven years to develop, with the components coming from Ilyushin production facilities in Russia, Baweja said.

To be used both for transport duties and troop deployment, the aircraft is meant to replace the Indian Air Force’s ageing Antonov-32s even as the country also seeks transport planes for the US.

Last month, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said India plans to buy six Hercules transport planes, along with ground-support equipment and spares, from Lockheed Martin of the US for $962 million.

The four-engined turboprop aircraft will be used as the main tactical plane for special operations, officials have said.

Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics manufactures under licence Russian-designed Sukhoi and MiG fighter planes, British Jaguars and locally-designed advanced light helicopters.—AFP