Commercial production of SARAS likely by 2008

India's first indigenous civil aircraft SARAS, designed and developed by the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), is likely to be put into commercial production by 2008. This scenario emerged after the successful inaugural flight took place in Bangalore today.

The light transport aircraft, with rear mounted twin turboprop engines, has been built over a period of five years, costing Rs 158 crore with 70 per cent indigenisation.

SARAS is capable of carrying 14 people at a maximum speed of 550 km at a cruise altitude of 7.4 km. NAL, after successful inaugural flight has to test fly its second prototype which is expected to take place during the course of next year.

Between the two prototypes, about 500 hours of flight-testing is planned for obtaining DGCA certification as per the FAR-25 (Federal Aviation Regulations of the US) standards.

This is likely to take about 24-30 months time from now, as each and every aspect has to be thoroughly checked from the points of view of both aircraft safety and performance. In the current avatar, the aircraft weighs nearly 800 kg more than the design specification of 6,100 kg.

Speaking to the media after the flight, Kapil Sibal, minister of state for science and technology and ocean development, said: "We are proud of this aircraft which is our flight into the future. It is true that the craft weighs more than the design specification. During the course of regular development we intend to shave this off considerably so that it meets global standards."

He added that Indian Air Force has shown keen interest in buying six aircraft and has also indicated that it will be adding 10 more SARASs at a later stage.

HAL is expected to take up the full-scale production of SARAS, in addition to other private agencies. Sibal said in commercial production, SARAS is expected to cost between Rs 30-33 crore.