Following the recent news that India’s industrial conglomerate Tata has acquired the IP rights for a German aircraft;

Abhijit Apsingikar, Aerospace & Defense Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“The acquisition of IP rights for a German aircraft (likely to be the Grob G180 SPn) by Tata will pave way for the first domestically manufactured aircraft by a private enterprise, spur the growth of the ancillary ecosystem in the nascent Indian aerospace & defense sector. The private management of the aircraft project will naturally emphasize the cost efficiencies and will result in creating a comprehensive pool of vendors to ensure cost advantage.

“Although, no firm orders have been placed, Tata is likely to market a modified military specification platform for Indian military surveillance aircraft requirements. Moreover, an extended variant of the platform in the future can also become a key contender for the Indian military’s DO-228 replacement program.

“Tata’s aircraft is likely to inherit similar specifications and characteristics and is likely to have a flight ceiling of 41,000-45,000ft , with a range of 1,800 nautical miles while carrying a payload of more than 1,000 kg with an endurance of 6-7 hours. Thus, it will be suitable to address the Indian military’s requirement for a measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT) and communications intelligence (COMINT) gathering platform.

“With the first aircraft slated to arrive in India within three months for further integration and testing, Tata’s light executive/transport aircraft enjoys the benefit of being in advanced stages of development. In addition, a modified and extended aircraft version will enter the operational testing phase before the NAL Saras Mk-II aircraft (which is still on the drawing board) and will make the Tata aircraft  better positioned to compete for the Do-228 replacement program.”