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Captains of the American aerospace industry have shown their willingness to collaborate on India's Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA) initiative. India has been keen to develop a 70-100 seater passenger aircraft with joint efforts of HAL and NAL through JV/Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).
The initial funding of Rs 20 crore will be borne by the JV partners. The HAL Board has already given approval for the JV or SPV with the hope that the Indian skies will see its own regional transport aircraft in future. The project has been in the cold storage for a while. A project report was prepared by G Madhavan Nair.
The committee headed by G Madhavan Nair, former ISRO chief had conducted the feasibility report on the issue and estimated the cost of the development at Rs 7,555 crore, which included design and development of the aircraft.
The aircraft was expected to be completed in about six years time and the company is expected to reach its the target of 36 aircraft after the completion of the first aircraft.
R K Tyagi, Chairman, HAL, said a single certifying agency would be in the national interest as it would mean huge savings in terms of costs and time. "It is absolutely must to give fillip to our own products both in civilian and military segments and reduce dependency on foreign products," he added.
"For example, our products such as Dhruv helicopter (civil and military variants) has proved its mettle in the most challenging situation. Why shouldn't it fly in America or elsewhere?" he asked, insisting that quick procedural solutions must be found at various levels to pave way for Indian products to fly abroad.
