New Delhi, India (CU)_ Tata Group has acquired the intellectual property (IP) rights for a German-origin platform and will manufacture military aircraft in India. The group plans to combine native sensors and payloads to the twin-engine, high-altitude aircraft, which carries out wide range of functions like signal intelligence, cross border surveillance and renaissance purposes. The aircraft is in its final stage of testing in Germany and is expected to arrive in India in the next three months for further integration. Tata Group will soon build a plant to cater for the development of these newly built aircrafts.
This combination would turn the jet into a platform capable of performing cross-border surveillance, signal intelligence and many more tasks. The aircraft is designed to fly at an altitude of 41,000ft with a maximum altitude of 45,000ft. The aircraft is expected to have a range of 1800 nautical miles, six to seven hours of endurance, more than 1000 kg of payload capacity and can land on gravel and grass. Tata Group unit Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) will exhibit the potential and strong points of aircraft during next week’s AeroIndia event in Bengaluru. Although the company did not reveal any design specifics, it is expected that the aircraft would be based on the Grob G 180 SPn.
Sukaran Singh, Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) Managing Director, said “We are now focusing on modifying the aircraft to fit special payloads so that it can undertake a demonstration of surveillance capabilities. For a country like India, with multiple mountain ranges spread across the country, including on international borders, this capacity is extremely vital. India has been dependent on foreign suppliers to meet this need.” He added, “With TASL bringing this aircraft technology to the table, India will have a cutting-edge air-borne surveillance platform, with control over the software, customization as well as maintenance, based within the country”.
It was said that it is the first time that an Indian private enterprise is manufacturing a complete military-grade aircraft. To date, it has only been operated by the country’s state-owned company Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) and for the first time IP rights have been acquired by a private firm. TASL signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin in September 2018 to start manufacturing wings for the F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft in India.
