On the sidelines of the Defence Expo at Goa, Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Defence Ltd has entered into an agreement with Ukraine based State Corporation Antonov to cooperate on dual version transport aircraft for military, para military and commercial use in India. Reliance Defence together with Antonov will jointly address various requirements including 50-80 seat passenger aircraft in its basic configuration and in all its variants such as transport, maritime patrol and other military roles.
The joint venture by Reliance Defence and Antonov envisages design and manufacture of the medium lift dual use turbofan aircraft in India with transfer of niche technologies. “This will be located at India’s first integrated Aerospace Park at Mihan, Nagpur. The program valued at over Rs 35,000 crore is estimated to generate employment for over 7,000 people in the primary and secondary industrial sectors in the region,” said Reliance Defence in a press release.
Antonov (An) class of aircraft have long served the Indian Air Force and Navy for over five decades. Currently, the IAF has more than 100 An-32 aircraft on its inventory having completed its last life cycle upgrade will be due for replacements. The partnership agreement would provide the benefits of quality and low cost solution for 50-80 seater aircraft through its core competencies.
The partnership of Reliance Defence and Antonov envisions design of fixed wing military aircraft configured for use in tactical as well strategic roles. Powered by two turbofan high fuel-efficiency jet engines, the medium lift aircraft is capable of short field runways operating from remote airfields with unpaved surfaces.
In the Indian civil aviation market, this medium category aircraft could effectively plug the gap in regional air transport connectivity to around 350 unused airstrips currently available across the country and is in consonance with the new draft Civil Aviation policy by MoCA.
Low level tactical missions by this aircraft is aided by modern day avionics and navigation systems powered by fly-by-wire systems in all-weather round the clock operations. India has requirement of over 200 medium lift turbofan aircraft which is the back bone of all tactical Logistic Transport Support Role (TSR) as well as Route Transport Roles (RTR) of the Air Force, Army and para military forces.
