Aerospace & Aviation Industry in India

Introduction

The aviation and aerospace industry in India is set to grow rapidly. It is one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world, expanding at a rate of about 18% year-on-year for the past few years. Progressive policies from the Govt. of India, liberalization of foreign direct investment norms in aviation, opening up of the defence sector and forward thinking policies for selecting strategic partners for defence manufacturing are expected to be significant growth drivers for this industry. At present, India has more than 450 airports and airstrips (both national and international) and the civil aviation market is set to become 2nd or 3rd largest by 2020. India recorded air traffic of 1.39 billion passengers in 2018, and the trend is expected to grow in the coming years. As the aviation aerospace market expands, it is estimated that there will be a need for over 2000 aircrafts in India in the next year or do.

Leading Foreign Aviation & Aerospace Companies

The Indian manufacturing sector is internationally competitive as it adheres to international quality standards, safety norms and manufacturing facilities. India is fast developing into a manufacturing hub for world corporations that want to leverage the availability of trained manpower, proven skills in product design and reasonable costs. There are as much as 20 per cent cost savings on parts and components made in India for the global aviation industry. The government too is working on a roadmap to boost manufacturing of critical components in India. In an effort to strengthen its own aerospace industry, India has also asked major weapon exporting countries to transfer technology to India, including manufacturing of more critical aircraft components in the country.

Currently, France's Airbus and US-based Boeing are the two of the largest plane makers in the world, and both of them have a presence in India. Boeing, headquartered in Delhi, has been associated with India’s aerospace industry for more than 75 years now. Boeing’s India operations include field service offices in Mumbai, Hindan, Rajali and New Delhi, and a Boeing India Engineering & Technology Center in Bengaluru. Airbus, headquartered in Bengaluru, focuses on the development of advanced capabilities in the areas of modelling and simulation, covering such components as flight management systems, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and digital simulation and visualization. It is also responsible for engineering and supply chain adaptations for electronics product upgrades for local and new markets. The team also provides value added engineering services in software engineering, mechanical engineering and systems simulation to other European engineering sites. Lockheed Martin, a renowned name in defence aircrafts, has a presence in India as well, in partnership with big Indian corproates. Lockheed Martin’s proposed F-21 partnership with India will deliver an advanced, scalable capability to the Indian Air Force, provide unmatched industrial opportunities, and accelerates India-US cooperation on advanced technologies.  A big plus for the Indian aviation industry indeed!

Leading Domestic Aviation & Aerospace Companies

The Indian aerospace industry too is witnessing an unprecedented growth. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is the market leader in this field. It is a government owned company and comes under the purview of India’s Ministry of Defence via its Department of Defence Production. Earlier, HAL built aircraft and engines of foreign design under license. Today however, it also focuses on the design and development of indigenous aircraft.  HAL has played a major role in the Defence aviation of India through design, manufacture and overhaul of fighters, trainers, helicopters, transport aircraft, engines, avionics and system equipment. HAL is now ranked 34th in the list of world’s top 100 defence companies. Over 150 Trainer planes were manufactured and supplied to the Indian Air Force and other customers. Apart from Bengaluru, the company also has factories in Hyderabad, Kanpur, Koraput, Korwa, Lucknow and Nasik in India. HAL has 19 production divisions for manufacture and overhaul of aircraft, helicopters, engine and accessories. It also has 9 R&D centres to give a thrust to research & development. Another highly important organization in the aerospace domain is ISRO. Established by the Government of India to promote development and application of space science and technology, Indian Space Research organization (ISRO) is the primary agency under the Department of Space for executing space programmes. ISRO is known for its brilliant scientists that have an impressive array of achievements with the largest constellation of domestic communication satellites called Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) in the Asia pacific region with about 210 transponders in orbit. And, India has plans to augment the capacity with the launching of INSAT satellites and increase it to about 500 in 4-5 years to meet its growing needs. Apart from HAL and ISRO, there are other domestic aerospace companies in India that include Bharat Electronics Ltd and Electronic Corporation of India Ltd, both also owned by the Government of India. These companies offer products to aerospace, security and other markets. A special joint venture between Russia and India is Brahmos, 50.5 percent owned by India’s Defense Research and Development Organization and 49.5 percent by Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia. Brahmos designs and manufactures supersonic cruise missiles.

Apart from these Govt. of India owned companies, there are major private industrial houses like Tata, Reliance and Mahindra who have forayed into the aerospace and aviation sector as well.

3D Printing in Aerospace & Aviation

The aviation and aerospace industry in India is set to grow. The growth of the civil and military aviation sectors are the main drivers of this industry. Fuel efficiency and aerodynamic design are the key factors that will enable players to differentiate their commercial, defence and space aircrafts. A huge part of the development process is the R&D that goes into aircraft development. 3D printing offers unique advantages that make it popular in the aerospace and aviation industry. 3D printers allow printing of different metals, alloys, composites, and that too in a limited quantity – even one – and thus reduce R&D costs. One of the first industries to embrace the 3D printing technology, the airline industry is a driving force in the evolution of this technology for both manufacturing end-use parts and prototyping. Airlines depend on 3D printing to alleviate supply chain constraints, limit warehouse space and reduce wasted materials from traditional manufacturing processes. Rapidly producing aircraft parts on demand saves enormous amounts of space, time and money. Aerospace industry uses 3D printers to experiment and manufacture end use parts, manufacturing tools, surrogates and training aids as well as developing flight grade materials that are lighter and sturdier. As 3D printing technology grows, and as the choice of printing material rises, the importance of 3D printers in aviation and aerospace is set to grow in the future.