The Hindu Business Line : If Bell bags Army deal, HAL too may benefit

BELL Helicopter Textron is keen on bagging an Indian Army order for 197 light reconnaissance helicopter. Of these, 137 could be co-produced with Hindustan Aeronautics if the order comes its way, Bell CEO, Mr Michael Redenbaugh, said here on Wednesday .

The sub-3-tonne Bell 407 copter is one of the helicopters being evaluated for over a year under various altitude and weather conditions and a decision is expected this year-end or early 2006. The Indian order, he said, would be a big one for Bell, which recently sold the 407 copter to the US Army in a more than $2-billion deal. This would also open up relationships with other domestic companies.

Mr Redenbaugh was in Bangalore to receive the first rotor blade pair outsourced to HAL. The defence PSU will be making 5,265 blades for Bell over the next six years at its Bangalore unit under a deal worth $5.36 million signed in March last year.

While HAL's acting-Chairman, Mr A.K.Saxena, said the domestic major was keen on expanding this tie-up to other products for Bell, the US major with 28 per cent global and 58 per cent military copter market share was open to any suitable mode of collaboration.

According to Mr Saxena, Bell with its various versions has a huge supply chain management. "HAL is currently not in the SC link and we can become part of it and contribute on a global scale," he said.

HAL sees the tail rotor blade as the beginning of its collaboration opportunities with Bell — these could be on the design and development, marketing, product support and MRO fronts.

Mr Redenbaugh said the company which still has 7,000 copters of the 206 variant flying, was ramping up the capacity and would need 100 blades a month.

He said he saw a huge market opportunity for helicopters in the Indian public and private sector ranging from uses like oil exploration, corporate and VVIP travel, power lines and road inspection to tourism, highway safety, disaster-time evacuation and medical emergencies.

The rotor blades handed over mark HAL's foray into exporting flight safety components and demonstrate its expertise in composite technology.

The first hardware product made by ARDC for an overseas customer was made ahead of schedule. Five blades would be produced at a peak rate, Mr M.S. Nadgir, Director Design & Development, said.

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