HAL records highest turnover of Rs 15,480 crore

Bengaluru, April 02: Plane-maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) on Thursday claimed that it has recorded the highest ever turnover of Rs 15,480 crore (provisional) for the financial year 2014-15.

The Bengaluru-headquartered Defence Public Sector Undertaking (DPSU) said that it achieved the highest turnover during the current year as against Rs 15,128 crore in 2013-14.

HAL's newly-crowned Chairman and Managing Director T Suvarna Raju said that the Company's performance is in line with the MoU signed with the Ministry of Defence.

"We expect an ‘excellent' rating for FY 2014-15. The CAPEX target of Rs 900 crore has been achieved. We are happy that on the indigenisation front over 2000 items were produced resulting in saving to the tune of Rs 100 crore," Raju said.

He claimed that the operating profit for the year was at Rs 1,560 crore against Rs 1,551 crore in the last FY.

LCH completes 384 flights in the development phase

HAL said that during the design and development phase, the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) has so far completed 384 flights. As reported by OneIndia earlier, the Board had already given approval for 4th technology demonstrator using Company's own resources.

The Board's out-of-the-box thinking has been necessitated to catch up with the lost time in the programme so as to expedite the Initial Operational Clearance.

HAL had already conducted the Ground Test Vehicle test for its next rotor wing platform, the Light Utility Helicopter (LUH). HAL had for the first time displayed the full-scale model of LUH during Aero India 2015.

Raju had earlier told OneIndia that LUH will be one programme that could potentially propel HAL's fortunes in future. The LUH is a single engine multipurpose helicopter in the three-tonne class.

It is designed to perform various roles like policing, urban surveillance and medical ambulance. The helicopter is expected to have its first flight this year.

HAL said that the indigenously designed and developed mini UAV had its first flight during the year.

Highlighting the achievement of the FY that went by, Raju said that the commercial negotiation progressed with internal and bilateral meetings with Russian participation for the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft FGFA programme.

Jinxed IJT completes 1,000 sorties

HAL's jinxed Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) too surpassed the milestone of cumulative 1000 sorties during the period. The Company has been battling with the project for the last many years with no real solution in sight.

Detailed design, jig fabrication and commissioning have been completed for HAL Basic Turboprop Trainer (HTT-40) and assembly activities have been initiated.

Key highlights during FY 2014-15

• LCA Tejas so far completed 2871 flights out of which 364 were carried out during the year.
• Naval variant of LCA completed 43 flights so far out of which 24 flights were done during the year.
• Critical design review for Mirage 2000 upgrade completed.
• Detail design of the core engine Hindustan Turbo Fan Engine-25 (HTFE-25) completed.
• First ROH SU-30 MKI aircraft and first series production Tejas handed over to IAF.
• Received order for 14 Do-228 aircraft.
• 814 patent applications were filed taking the total to 1094 till March 31, 2015.