HAL, NAL sign tech transfer pact for Tejas engine day door production

Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A is an indigenous 4.5 generation, all-weather and multi-role fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

Defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) said on Monday it has signed a Transfer of Technology agreement with National Aerospace Laboratories for the manufacture of the Bismaleimide Engine Bay Door for the series production of Light Combat Aircraft Tejas Mk1A.

Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A is an indigenous 4.5 generation, all-weather and multi-role fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force. With the signing of the technology transfer for Bismaleimide (BMI) Engine Bay Door (EBD), HAL can directly produce these high-temperature resistant composite parts for the series production of LCA Mk1A aircraft meeting the initial requirement of IAF squadrons, a joint statement said.

"BMI resins have excellent thermal, mechanical and chemical properties, and have a number of applications in the aerospace and electronics industries," according to an HAL official. LCA Tejas Mk1A — installed with the first set of Carbon-BMI Engine Bay Door assembly — completed the first flight from the HAL facility here on March 28 this year.

Over the last three decades, Bengaluru-based National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), a constituent of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has developed many critical technologies for the LCA Tejas and continues to support this major national programme, it said.