Defence Ministry inks Rs 26K crore deal with HAL for 240 Sukhoi engines

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) today signed a Rs 26,000-crore deal with state-run aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) for production of 240 aero-engines for Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft.

Advertisement

The agreement was inked by senior officials of the ministry and the HAL in the presence of Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari.

The HAL, which will produce the engines at its Koraput plant in Odisha, will supply 30 AL-31FP aero-engines annually as per the delivery schedule. The supply of all 240 engines would be completed in the next eight years, the ministry said.

It added that the HAL would enhance the indigenisation content up to 63 per cent to achieve an average of over 54 per cent. The unit plans to take support from the country’s defence manufacturing ecosystem, involving MSMEs and public and private industries.

The Cabinet Committee on Security had on September 2 approved the proposal for the procurement of 240 engines to power the Sukhoi-30 MKI jets. The IAF has 272 such aircraft of Russian parentage.

In the past, the HAL and its suppliers had been providing sub-parts of the engines. Servicing and overhaul of the engines is also done at the Koraput plant.

With Russia being involved in a conflict with Ukraine, the supply of engines was suffering, sources said, adding that some jets of the Sukhoi fleet were now more than 20 years old. Engines of a jet are changed after a certain number of flying hours.

The Sukhoi, a twin-engine jet, is one of the most powerful and strategically-significant fleet of the IAF. The supply of the aero-engines will help meet the fleet sustenance requirement of the IAF.