Tata Sikorsky rolls out indigenous helicopter cabin

Tata Sikorsky, the joint venture between Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation of the US, Thursday rolled out the first fully indigenous S-92 helicopter cabin.

The facility located in Aerospace and Precision Engineering SEZ at Adibatla near here also delivered the 50th cabin for S-92, the most popular helicopter for offshore oil industry manufactured by Sikorsky, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.

More than 5,000 precision components required for assembling the cabins are also being manufactured at the facility, a strategic collaboration between TASL, a part of Tata Group, and Sikorsky.

The facility, which commenced production in 2011, produces four cabins a month. The cabins are shipped to the US for aircraft completion and customer delivery.

Shane Eddy, senior vice president, operations, Sikorsky, said the joint venture achieved the key milestone in a short span of time.

"It is a tribute to the talent and dedication of the workforce in India that we have been able to create an ecosystem for aerospace manufacturing in order to achieve 100 percent indigenization of the manufactured components and materials that meet stringent specifications of Sikorsky's S-92 helicopters," he said.

"Sikorsky had laid out a road map in 2009 to extend collaboration in India to produce a complete helicopter here, subject to meeting stipulated objectives and goals, and indigenization of the S-92 helicopter cabins is a milestone in reaching that target," said Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Arvind Walia, regional executive, India & South Asia, Sikorsky.

S. Ramadorai, chairman, TASL, said the company had delivered on the challenge of indigenous manufacturing and assembly of cabins.

"TASL's capabilities across the aerospace value chain and its highly skilled and dedicated workforce have put India on the global map as a preferred destination for OEMs," he said.

The Sikorsky S-92 helicopter fleet has grown to 200 aircraft since entering service in 2004 and has logged more than 530,000 flight hours.

Sikorsky Aircraft, based in Stratford, US, is a world leader in helicopter design, manufacture and service.