India’s NAL gears up for the big leagues

India's National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) are not easy to find. Located on the same road as Hindustan Aeronautics just outside Bangalore, the complex has a nondescript steel gate that sits well back from the road and is marked with a small sign.
Beyond lies a large campus of buildings interspersed with overgrown parkland and large, gloomy trees that overshadow the road. Half a dozen rifle-armed guards man a ramshackle security office, where visitors must surrender their mobile phones in return for a pass.
Despite its bucolic location, NAL is at the forefront of India's aviation sector, second only to HAL. It is also the cradle of the country's regional commercial aircraft ambitions. NAL's focus is primarily commercial - although technologies developed there have been used in military aircraft, such as the indigenously developed Tejas light combat aircraft.
NAL's mandate is: "To develop aerospace technologies with a strong science content, design and build small and medium-sized civil aircraft, and support all national aerospace programmes."
Founded in 1959, NAL has more than a dozen laboratories. Areas of focus range from avionics to testing and repairing aerospace structures. The labs helped with initial studies on the Gas Turbine Research Establishment's Kaveri engine - the long-delayed, indigenous powerplant intended for the Tejas.
Every indigenous Indian aerospace vehicle has been tested in NAL's aerospace windtunnel. It is also the body responsible for carrying out aircraft failure analyses and accident investigations. Over the years, it has investigated more than 1,100 cases.
Although its aircraft development ambitions are at an early stage, NAL hopes it will soon make a leap into the crowded regional aircraft market with a regional transport aircraft, the RTA-70. NAL's Hansa-3 single-engined light aircraft is India's first all-composite aircraft. Intended primarily to replace older aircraft at India's flying clubs, the Hansa-3 is being co-produced with private company Taneja Aerospace & Aviation.
NAL has also led development of the Saras, a 14-seat multi-role transport aircraft designed primarily for the military. It is working with another private-sector firm, Mahindra Aerospace, on the NM5-100, a five-seater turboprop aimed at air taxi, training, tourism and medevac roles.
Despite the issues with Saras, NAL is contemplating a far more ambitious project with the RTA-70. Although it was envisaged as a turboprop aircraft, NAL now says the RTA-70 could be powered by turbofan engines, with the government viewing the aircraft as a stepping stone to larger models. NAL is studying the two options, and will deliver a report to the government in April 2011, after which a decision will be made.
31/01/11 Greg Waldron/Flightglobal.com

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2011, New Jan 2011