Telangana Government is planning to set-up three more defence and aerospace parks on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
The south central Bharatiya city of Hyderabad, known for its historic monuments, is all poised to make it big on the aerospace and defence production map of the country. As part of the move to boost the prospects of Bharatiya defence and aerospace sectors, which are all set to be energised by the ‘Make in India’ campaign of the Bharateeya Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Telangana Government is planning to set-up three more defence and aerospace parks on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
“The idea is to make Telangana a hub of aerospace and defence where all activities including research and development, manufacturing as well as incubation will be provided at one place,” says Arvind Kumar, Industries and Commerce Secretary to Government of Telangana. While around 500 acres of land has already been made available for setting-up of an aerospace park at Eliminedu Village, two more aerospace parks would be set-up on the outskirts of Hyderabad in a phased manner.
An aerospace park spread over an area of 500-acres at Adibatla SEZ (Special Economic Zone) on the outskirts of Hyderabad is already a beehive of activities with a number of fully functional facilities including that of Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) and its joint venture partners Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin now producing helicopter cabins and aerospace components. As envisaged now, TASL will also manufacture and supply aero-structures for PC-12 of Pilatus Aircraft Ltd of Switzerland from Adibatla aerospace SEZ. Under a tie-up with Pilatus Aircraft Ltd, TASL will undertake the assembly of complete airframe for the aircraft including integrated fuselage, wing, cockpit, ailerons as well as fins and rudders.
With TASL also announcing yet another joint venture with US aerospace and defence major, Boeing, for the production of aero structures and to collaborate on integrated systems development opportunities in Bharat, the aerospace activities centring round Hyderabad will gather a greater degree of momentum. This joint venture will focus on the production of aero-structures for AH-64 Apache helicopter and compete for additional work packages across Boeing aircraft platforms catering to both the civilian and defence needs. As it is, other Tata Groups companies including Tata Advanced Materials and TAL Manufacturing Solutions are already in the supply chain system of Boeing. Tata Advanced Materials has supplied critical components forming part of the power supply system of the Boeing P-81 long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft. On the other hand, TAL Manufacturing Solutions, a subsidiary of Tata Motors, is engineering complex floor beams out of composite materials for the Boeing 787-9 aircraft. According to S Ramadorai, Chairman of TASL, the agreement for joint venture with Boeing will propel growth of the Bharateeya aerospace sector.
In the ultimate analysis, the joint venture route to the production of critical aerospace components have the potential to expand the scope of Bharateeya defence self-reliance. According to defence analysts, Bharat stands to improve its industrial credentials by signing such deals. ”As we step into our 100th year in business, a new aerospace partnership with Bharat is the perfect milestone to accelerate the momentum we have generated for making in Bharat,” says Pratyush Kumar, president, Boeing India.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad based Bharat Dynamics Ltd, the State owned defence enterprise responsible for the integration and production of state of the art missiles being designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is on an expansion mode with a view to take on a bigger role. Hyderabad also boasts of a number of facilities of DRDO including Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) and Research Centre Imarat. On the other hand, the State owned Mishra Dhatu Nigam (Midhani) based in Hyderabad has made pioneering contribution to the development of strategic alloys and high strength metallic products that Bharat
used to import at an enormous cost to its public exchequer. Hyderabad is also home to the facilities of Hindus-tan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
There is a feeling that Bengaluru could lose out to Hyderabad its current pre-eminent position of being the premier Bharatiya aerospace hub on account of the poor track record of Karnataka Government in creating a business friendly environment for investors in the State. Added to that, bureaucratic red tape and poor delivery of services, primitive conditions of infrastructure as well as shortage of power and water have not gone down well with the potential investors. If the Karnataka Government fails to take timely measures to create conditions favourable for industrial investment, Hyderabad could take a lead over Bengaluru.
Hyderabad also boasts of a number of small and medium scale industries producing high quality components and providing a range of technical and engineering services for the production of missiles, fighting platforms and combat systems. As pointed out by G Sateesh Reddy, Scientific Advisor to the Indian Defence Minister, “Small and medium enterprises making components for the defence institutions have
now started building subsystems and systems. These institutions have also ensured a steady flow of talent for the sector which requires highly skilled manpower.” Most of the components for many of the state of the art Bharateeya missile systems are sourced from Hyderabad. In addition Hyderabad is also home to a number of software development and IT services firms that cater to the needs of both aerospace and defence sectors.
As pointed out by Pratyush Kumar, Hyderabad’s strategic advantages are its emerging industrial base, infrastructure and availability of skilled manpower. He says that these are critical developments for a competitive aerospace and defence base.
The GMR Aerospace Park in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of the Hyderabad International Airport—spread over an area of 250-acres—has an MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facility catering to the needs of narrow body aircraft including A-320 and Boeing-737. Bharat’s national flag carrier, Air India also operates an MRO facility at the Hyderabad International Airport. In tie-up with Safran Group of France, GMR Group is planning to set-up an aerospace training centre at Hyderabad international airport.
Bharat, which has pulled off a space coup with the successful launch of missions to Moon and Mars should now focus on exploiting its resources, infrastructure and expertise to turn the country into a dynamic hub of aerospace and defence production and in the process help create a military industrial complex that while catering to the needs of Bharateeya defence forces would also position Bharat as a major exporter of defence hardware and combat platforms. And in this endeavour Hyderabad could play a vital and historic role.
Radhakrishna Rao (The writer is freelance journalist who writes on science and technology related issues)
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