As many as 25 jets a year will be overhauled at the Nashik division of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd

NASHIK: The Centre has decided to increase the overhauling of Sukhoi-30 fighter jets from 12 to 25 a year, said Union minister of state for defence Subash Bhamre on Thursday.

The manufacture and overhaul of such fighter jets are carried out at the Nashik division of the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

The minister was speaking to reporters at the launch of the defence innovation hub here.

Bhamre rejected allegations that HAL does not have enough work orders and that it was ignored in the Rafale aircraft manufacturing deal. “That the PSU will not have any work orders after 2019 are baseless,” he claimed.

To buttress his claims, the Union minister said that at present, HAL has work orders worth Rs 28,000 crore. “Moreover, additional orders worth Rs 73,000 crore are in the pipeline. This includes manufacturing of fourth generation fighter aircraft Tejas worth Rs 50,000 crore,” he said, adding that around 126 Tejas aircraft are to be manufactured by HAL.

In reply to a question, Bhamre said that the ministry of defence has plans to increase the overhauling capacity of Sukhoi 30 up to 25 aircraft a year in the future. 

HAL is involved in the manufacture and overhaul of Su-30 aircraft at its Ozar unit since 2004. So far it has manufactured close to 260 aircraft. Two more such aircraft are expected to be manufactured by December-end this year.

Sources at HAL said that the life cycle of Sukhoi-30 aircraft is around 10 years or 1,000 flying hours. The overhauling of such aircraft increases their life span by another 10 years. “The first batch of aircraft manufactured in 2004 completed 10 years in 2014. Currently, HAL has been overhauling 12 Su-30 aircraft a year at its Ozar division,” the sources added.