Kalam calls for 'Virtual Collaborative Platform' in aerospace

Bangalore, Jun 26 (UNI) Former President A P J Abdul Kalam today advocated a 'Virtual Collaborative Platform' with friendly nations to achieve a reality aerospace system for defence, space and civil aviation applications.

Delivering the inaugural speech at the international conference on Aerospace Science and Technology, organised as part of the golden jubilee celebrations of the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) here, he said the country should try to form such a platform on the lines of BrahMos Corporation, a joint venture between India and Russia.

''BrahMos was launched with a joint investment of 150 million dollars each from India and Russia. Today it has been such a big success that it had the potential of getting a business of one billion dollars. Knowledge should be used as a platform between different countries,'' he said.

Mr Kalam said such a platform could result in India developing and building a Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA) having a seat capacity of 70 to 110.

''India has designed missiles, both short and long range, and cruise missiles like BrahMos, while it is capable of producing anti-ballistic missiles. My vision is that by 2020, India can also produce a world class passenger aircraft. If we can realise this dream, we can bring down the acquisition cost by 25 per cent, operating cost by 20 per cent and maintenance cost by 50 per cent,'' he said.

Mr Kalam said the RTA project, which would shortly be launched by NAL, would put the premium government institution in the world map. In its five decades of existence, NAL had made significant contributions to defence, space and civil aviation sectors.

''NAL is the fountainhead of knowledge in the aviation industry,'' he said.

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