HAL turns to its past to navigate an uncertain future

That a company is shaping its strategy by reaching back six decades, even as it competes to build what may be India’s most advanced combat aircraft, seems counterintuitive. In the 1960s, stealth was scarcely more than theory, and radar evasion meant hugging the ground and vanishing into clutter. That Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) would do so now — at a moment when its dominance in India’s defence industrial ecosystem is far from assured — only deepens the paradox. Yet this is precisely the path its leadership has chosen.  This comes amid mounting criticism of HAL, even as it continues