HAL, Safran sign a JV for support center in India

The Dollar Business Bureau

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and France based Safran Helicopter Engines have partnered to set up a support center in India for international and domestic rotorcraft customers.

The center will offer maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services to Safran TM333 and HAL Shakti engines, which run HAL manufactured choppers.

Safran and state-run HAL will offer first class services to the customers, including optimized engine availability, said the statement released by the Indian helicopter manufacturer.

Safran is a top-notch globally recognized maker of gas turbine engines for both military and civil jets.

With about 1,000 engines including 250 Shakti and 250 TM333, Indian armed forces are one of the largest users of Safran-designed helicopter engines.

250 Shakti is the Indian name for Safran’s Ardiden 1, jointly developed with HAL and produced under the French license. Suvarna Raju, Chairman and MD of HAL, stated that the joint venture with Safran will give a great push to its make-in-India initiative as around 1000 Shakti engines are likely to fly in near future.

An agreement on JV was inked between D.K. Venkatesh, Director (Engg, and R&D), HAL and Bruno Even, CEO of Turbomeca on Monday, on the sidelines of Farnborough International Airshow. The agreement was signed in the presence of Philippe Petitcolin, CEO-Safran and Suvarna Raju.

Advanced Light Helicopter (Dhruv) is powered by Shakti engines (Turbomeca engine), which has also been selected to run HAL designed Light Combat helicopter.

The latest Light Utility Helicopter, a three-ton weighing single-engine helicopter that is being developed, also features a Turbomeca engine.