The Hindu Business Line : Build 150-seater civilian aircraft: Kalam

The President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, interacting with scientists at the International Conference on High Speed Transatmospheric Air and Space Transportation in Hyderabad on Friday.

Our Bureau

Hyderabad, June 29

India should venture into building a 150-seater, civilian aircraft under public-private sector partnership as the aerospace sector has matured, the President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has suggested.

Currently a 14-seater aircraft, Saras has been developed and is expected to go into commercial operation soon. “The aeronautical community has reached a maturity to meet global standards and private sector can manufacture the necessary products,” Mr Kalam said, while inaugurating a two-day, international meet on High Speed Trans-Atmospheric Air and Space Transportation, here on Friday.

Space transportation

Urging global co-operation to develop technologies that can drastically improve the speeds of flight and lower the costs of payload (weight a space vehicle can carry), the President threw a challenge to develop hypersonic space vehicles in the 230-250 tonne class.

The re-usable space vehicle should carry payload of at least 15 per cent or about 30 tonnes (present capacity is to carry two-three tonnes) of its overall weight and the costs should be about $200 per kg ($20,000/kg).

An international initiative can accelerate the development. Mr Kalam said he had posed the challenge at Boston University, in Paris and the California Institute of Technology.

Listing the developments by the Indian space and defence scientists over the years, Mr Kalam said the re-usable, two stage launch vehicle demonstrator project of the Indian Space Research Organisation and the long-range re-usable hypersonic vehicle of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, were efforts in the right direction.

The DRDO is planning to test its first hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle (HTDV), by the end of 2008. “We are deploying about Rs 30,000 crore in our missiles and aerospace projects over two five-year Plan periods.

A host of private industries will be involved in the developments,” said Dr M. Natarajan, Scientific Advisor to the Chief of DRDO.

R&D projects

Mr Itzhak Nissan, CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries, in his remarks said his country and industry were participating in several research and development projects, and was confident that the collaboration will grow in key defence sectors.

Earlier, welcoming the gathering of over 200 national and international participants and 50 industry exhibitors, Dr V.K. Saraswat, Chief Controller (R&D) of DRDO and Chairman of the Aeronautical Society, Hyderabad, asked the private sector, especially the small and medium enterprises to participate in the large programmes taken up by the organisation.