Hyderabad: Hyderabad today has a comprehensive ecosystem for aerospace and defence industry. With capabilities spread across infrastructure, research, manufacturing, advanced skills and innovation, the city remains an attractive and ideal destination for the industry to set up their base as well as expand their operations, said KT Rama Rao, Industries & Commerce minister, Government of Telangana.
Speaking at an event to mark the delivery milestone of Tata Boeing Aerospace’s 100th fuselage for the AH-64 Apache combat helicopter to Boeing from Hyderabad facility, the minister said, “Thanks largely to Tata Advanced Systems Limited and their partnerships they forged with Boeing, Lockheed, GE and others, Hyderabad today really enjoys a great reputation in the aerospace and defence ecosystem.”
Hyderabad has been ranked No 1 in the third and latest edition of fDI’s Aerospace Cities of the Future 2020-21 rankings, under the category of Top 10 Aerospace Cities in Cost-Effectiveness by fDI Intelligence.com, a division of Financial Times Group. The Civil Aviation ministry has also awarded Telangana as the best State in terms of its progressive outlook for 2018 and 2020.
Strong ecosystem
Highlighting the core strengths of the ecosystem, he said, Hyderabad has been known as the missile hub and a large base for research and manufacturing since the 1960s. The city houses a dozen DRDO labs and public sector institutions such as BDL, ECIL, BEL and HEL, besides an ordinance factory. These institutions have helped and nurtured over 1,000 MSMEs in the sector. Proving the enormous potential of the city further, Boeing India has recently partnered with Hyderabad-based Azad Engineering and Raghu Vamsi Aerospace.
“A number of State government initiatives led by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao have been taken up over the years. Legislations such as TS-iPASS which guarantees all clearances within 15 days or on the 16th day it becomes a deemed approval, is unheard in India,” he added.
The city today has world-class infrastructure with dedicated aerospace and defence parks and created an advanced skilling ecosystem to meet the industry needs. The industry also has a lot of opportunities in defence electronics.
Appealing to the leaders of Boeing and Tata Advanced Systems, KTR said, “We could have an ISB like set up for the aerospace and defence industry where we create a world-class skilling and learning institution which will ensure that not only does Hyderabad produce world-class employees for your facilities here but also for facilities elsewhere, provided we work together.”
The State has identified aerospace and defence as a priority sector and continues to strengthen the infrastructure. KTR added, “There are seven dedicated aerospace parks in the city-Adibatla, Nadergul, GMR Aerospace SEZ, Adani Aerospace Park and many others lined up, which will be unveiled soon.”
Innovation hub
Innovation is another area where the industry could do a lot. Boeing and T-Hub had earlier launched HorizonX, where Boeing identified a certain set of challenges which needed tweaking and solutions. Eight startups from all over India were finalised and given the opportunity to work on some challenges. “I do believe there is an opportunity to do more, innovate more, find more solutions, create value for us to take it up further,” he said.
He added, “Not just the defence activity for Boeing, even the vertical fins to be used in civil aviation will be done from Hyderabad.” Boeing has announced the addition of a new production line at its joint venture, the Tata Boeing Aerospace in Hyderabad, to manufacture complex vertical fin structures for the family of 737 airplanes.
KTR sought Boeing to consider more investments in Telangana in the future, as Hyderabad has better infrastructure than Bengaluru, and the latter is getting congested.
Tata Boeing Aerospace delivers 100th fuselage for AH-64 Apache Combat Helicopter
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