Bangalore, April 04, 2006 (IANS)

Aviation major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has begun work on two major projects to roll out a multi-role transport aircraft and a multi-role helicopter for the military.

The multi-role transport aircraft (MTA) is being designed and developed with Irkut Corporation of Russia for the Indian and Russian air forces. The aircraft is intended to replace the ageing AN-32 transport fleet of the Indian Air Force (IAF)," the defence public sector behemoth said in a statement issued Monday.

"The 15-20-tonne capacity MTA can also be converted into a 100-seat passenger aircraft for civilian use."

The aerospace major has also set the ball rolling to manufacture a 10-tonne multi-role helicopter in collaboration with an overseas firm. HAL, however, did not name its partner.

The rotorcraft is intended to replace the ageing British-built Sea King helicopter fleet of the Indian Navy.

Company officials hinted Bell Helicopter of the US and Eurocopter were in the race to partner with HAL in the project to design and develop the heavy-duty helicopter.

During fiscal 2005-06, HAL spent Rs.4.13 billion on research and development, including preliminary work on the light combat helicopter (LCH).

This is an upgraded version of its 5.5-tonne advanced light helicopter (ALH), christened Dhruv. The LCH will be inducted into the IAF.

"We have also launched project activities for the (British) advanced jet trainer (Hawk), which will be produced in our Bangalore facility under licence from BAe Systems of the UK. The first AJT is expected to be rolled out in the next fiscal (2007-08) for induction into the IAF," the statement said.

Certification process on the LCA and the intermediate jet trainer (IJT) being developed by HAL is underway to take up their full-scale production for the IAF.

Meanwhile, the Bangalore-based company has reported a provisional sales turnover of Rs.53.75 billion ($1.2 billion) for fiscal 2005-06, registering a growth of 18.5 percent over the last fiscal.

Exports accounted for Rs.1.85 billion. For the new fiscal, HAL has firmed up export contracts to the tune of Rs.2.5 billion.

"We have also signed various contracts worth Rs.178 billion ($4 billion) for execution in the next couple of years," the statement said.

Posting a pre-tax profit of Rs.10 billion, which is an increase of 32 percent over the last fiscal, the state-owned firm declared an interim dividend of Rs.1.9 billion.