The first set of wing assemblies for Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk1A, produced by Larsen and Toubro, was handed over to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu on Thursday, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
Secretary (Defence Production) Sanjeev Kumar attended the event virtually as General Manager (LCA Tejas Division) M Abdul Salam received the assemblies on behalf of HAL from Precision Manufacturing and Systems Complex unit of L&T.
In his address, the Secretary (Defence Production) commended the efforts of HAL and L&T towards achieving self-reliance.
He hailed HAL for spearheading collaboration with different private sector partners, nurturing them and ensuring enhanced capability.
He expressed confidence in meeting the requirement of the production target for LCA Tejas. He called for expanding horizons and focusing on reducing dependency on other countries.
CMD, HAL, DK Sunil, who was present during the handing over, termed it as a testament to years of dedicated hand-holding and a shared commitment to excellence from HAL and L&T.
“HAL is working with suppliers, both large and SMEs, as an initiative towards achieving Aatmanirbharta in the aerospace and defence sector. HAL has effectively built a parallel aircraft structural assembly line in the private sector which will help in capacity augmentation of the LCA Tejas programme,” he said.
Senior Vice President and Head, L&T Precision Engineering and Systems Arun Ramchandani said L&T is set to supply four wing sets annually, with plans to scale up production to 12 sets per annum through advanced assembly processes and automation, he added.
Till date, the LCA Tejas Division has received structural modules of Air Intake Assemblies from Lakshmi Machine Works, Rear fuselage assembly from Alpha Tocol, Loom Assemblies from Amphenol, Fin and Rudder Assemblies from Tata Advanced Systems, Centre Fuselage Assembly from VEM Technologies and Wing Assemblies from Larsen and Toubro for the LCA Mk1A.
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