India's HAL looks to boost profile in Asian markets

By Jon Grevatt | 09 March 2020

India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is planning to establish facilities in several Asian markets to boost its international profile.

In comments reported by the Press Trust of India (PTI) on 8 March, R Madhavan, HAL’s chairman and managing director, said the company is looking at setting up “logistical bases” in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

He said the focus of these facilities would be to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for Russian-built military aircraft in operation by these countries and to promote sales of HAL platforms including the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH).

India’s HAL is planning to establish facilities in several Asian countries to provide MRO support for local air forces and boost sales of products including its Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (pictured).

“We can give them a lot of support as these countries use a lot of platforms which are common to India and their serviceability is very poor,” Madhavan told PTI.

In terms of supporting sales, he added, “We now are looking at exports very seriously. A sizeable number of countries are showing lots of interests in the platforms we are producing as they are world class. We are in talks with so many countries.”

An official from HAL confirmed to Jane’s in 2019 that the company was pursuing opportunities to expand in Southeast Asia and other regional countries that had “long depended on Russian military aircraft”.

The official said the expansion plan sought to leverage, at least initially, HAL’s experience in providing MRO and upgrade services for Russian platforms – such as Sukhoi Su-30MKI and MiG-variant fighter aircraft – operated by the Indian Armed Forces.