HAL to open helicopter factory in Tumakuru, Modi lays foundation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday laid the foundation for a new helicopter factory og Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in Tumakuru, on the outskirts of Bengaluru . The first helicopter from the unit will fly by 2018.

Modi said that India has to end dependence on imported weaponry, which is expensive and is not of the latest technology.He said the Indian Armed Forces were second to none, and now the time had come to ensure that the weapons and equipment they carried and used were also the best in the world. 

The Karnataka government has allotted 400 acres for the factory that would eventually generate jobs to over 4,000 families.

"The manufacturing unit coming up in Tumakuru would not be an ordinary one, but one which would make the whole world take notice," Modi said.

HAL is developing a light utility helicopter for the armed forces. In addition, it has the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH-Dhruv), the Light Combat Helicopter projects. Last week, it signed an agreement with Russian helicopter firm Rostec to build 200 Russian Ka-226 T helicopters for the armed forces.