The Hindu : `Saras' rollout on Feb. 4

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 30, 2003

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`Saras' rollout on Feb. 4

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE Jan. 29. After years of design and development, the country's first 14-seater indigenous multi-role transport aircraft, Saras, will be rolled out on February 4, V.K. Aatre, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, announced here on Wednesday.

However, the first flight of the aircraft, developed by the Bangalore-based National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), is expected only in the next six to eight months. R.A. Mashelkar, Director-General, Council for Industrial and Scientific Research (CSIR), will take part in the rollout ceremony.

Saras is a twin turbo-prop multi-role aircraft with air taxi and commuter services as its primary roles, with a seating capacity of up to 14 in the high-density version.

The aircraft is well suited for a variety of roles including executive transport, light package carrier, remote sensing and aerial research service, Coast Guard, border patrol and air ambulance.

LCA to be flown at Aero India 2003

Buoyed by the success of previous Aero India shows, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian aviation industry will approach the Aero India 2003 with greater confidence and a certain degree of "maturity attained in electronic warfare systems, armour and armament, and radar technology".

This agenda, echoed by Dr. Aatre, will help in India's search for potential partner countries in co-development. He said discussions were on with some countries, but declined to name them. "We are going to look for dialogues for equal partnerships," he said.

Showcasing the country's confident strides in aviation technology, two light combat aircraft (LCA) would fly at the air show. Outdoor exhibits would include various missiles developed by the DRDO, radars, the indigenous Kaveri engine (which is to be eventually incorporated in the LCA), and other weapon systems.

Dr. Aatre said countries were reluctant to develop weapon systems on their own due to the huge investment costs and risks and were now looking for co-development avenues. India, he said, was holding talks with the French company, Thales, for co-development of radar technology. He said the country was looking at developing future generations of unmanned aerial vehicles and variants of Lakshya, its pilotless target aircraft and its future uses. Lakshya is a reusable remote-operated aerial target system to provide training to gun and missile crew, and air defence pilots.

The country, Dr. Aatre said, had made significant strides in design and development of tanks, ships and aircraft, and was now looking for submarine design. "Our capability for design and development of very complex technologies is proven."

Designed to power the LCA, the advanced gas turbine engine, Kaveri, will be taken to Russia on February 1 for four to five months of high altitude testing. Five prototypes of the engine were now in the test bed. The Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) had completed 1,200 hours of running the engine. "We will try to use it in the LCA next year," he said.

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