IAF Chief Inaugurates New Facility For Su-30 MKI Fighter Repairs

The IAF Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha inaugurated the structural repair shop for Su-30 MKI, ROH (Repairs and Overhaul) at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)'s Nashik division.

The repair shop was inaugurated in the presence of T Suvarna Raju, chairman-cum-managing director (CMD), HAL and others on Wednesday.

The government-owned corporation has planned activities such as aircraft handling, airframe structural repair, overhauling of hatch covers, repair and servicing of looms and repair and overhaul of mechanical rotables, The Times Of India reported Wednesday.

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) also inaugurated a seminar on "Challenges for make in India Initiatives" as part of platinum jubilee celebrations of HAL.

"HAL should turn challenges into opportunities as IAF depends on HAL for its various platforms," the chief Marshall said.  HAL alone has developed an eco-system by hand-holding more than 2500 business partners across India, he added. "Under 'Make in India', core capabilities should be developed through Public-private partnership to create a vibrant domestic industry", he said.

Further, a two-day exhibition on 'Make in India' was also inaugurated by CAS in which 30 companies participated displaying their products and capabilities.

The Sukhoi Su-30MK is a twinjet Multirole Air superiority fighter developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force (IAF)