Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) has tied up with Europe's RUAG Aviation to manufacture crucial systems for the latter's Dornier 228 NG aircraft.
The Dornier 228 next generation aircraft would see its fuselages and wings manufactured at the TASL's facility in the Adibatla aerospace SEZ in Hyderabad.
The project is the fourth aero structures unit to be set up by TASL in Hyderabad since its launch in 2009.
Announcing the ground breaking ceremony of the project today in the presence of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao here today, TASL chairman S Ramadorai said the project was a significant step forward in making India as a preferred destination for high-precision aerospace structures, and a perfect model to showcase India-Europe partnership in the sector.
He said TASL's vision was to "work with RUAG in having a full aircraft equipped with systems flying out from the Tata final assembly. This is in a way significant importance to the Indian Armed Forces in their desire to see Indian firms making products locally but having global impact."
TASL's has joint ventures operational with Sikorsky for the latter's S-92 helicopter cabins and with Lockheed Martin for the manufacture of empennage and centre wing box for the C-130 Super Hercules aircraft.
Till date, it has successfully delivered over 70 Sikorsky S-92 cabins in which it had indigenised the production of the entire cabin.
Meanwhile, Martin Buhlmann, vice president for supply chain management at RUAG, said the re-launched new generation Dornier project required a new strong partnership to take it forward and TASL was the perfect partner.
Headquartered in Benn, Switzerland, RUAG is focused on aerospace and defence technologies. RUAG's production facilities are located in Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, France, Austria and USA.
