CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL) received commitments, from prospective customers, for the indigenous two-seat flying trainer aircraft HANSA-NG, at the ongoing Wings India 2022 civil aviation event in Hyderabad.
“HANSA-NG will benefit Indian flying clubs as well as other customer applications like bird reconnaissance at airfields, cadet training, coastal surveillance and hobby flying. CSIR-NAL received firm commitments for 10 aircraft from Belagavi Aviation, and Blue Ray Aviation has also shown interest in acquiring three aircraft,” Secretary, DSIR and director-general of CSIR Shekhar C. Mande said at Wings India on Saturday.
HANSA-NG has been developed by incorporating state-of-the-art technologies and new generation design features. It offers advanced digital display systems using certified instruments, two primary flight displays with built in redundant power supply, he said. The delivery of aircraft is scheduled from July with private /public industry participation, he said. The aircraft is capable of flying upto an altitude of 10,000 feet with a maximum speed of 200 kmph with more than five hours endurance. Overall, NAL has received more than 80 Letter of Intents (LoI) from various flying clubs across the country.
Mr.Mande said the multi-copter drones developed by NAL have been configured for precision agriculture, geo exploration studies and for last mile delivery/ medicine/vaccine delivery. Higher payload capacity and longer endurance are two key features of the drones.
A release from NAL said agreements were signed for technology transfer of the multi-copters — Quad, Hexa, Octa — to Scientech Industries, Indore, Magic Myna, Coimbatore and C I Network Technologies, Ahmedabad at Wings India on March 24. The MSMEs will start production in next three months. They will be making 100-200 drones per month.
On SARAS-MK II, the 19-seater Light Transport Aircraft developed by NAL, Mr Mande said Armed Forces have committed to procuring 15 of them for initial induction. The aircraft will be certified by DGCA and CEMILAC for civil and military use. The first flight is likely to be in June 2024 and the production will be from 2026-27 onwards. Exclusively designed for operations from short runways, hot and high airfields and semi-prepared runways, SARAS MKII is expected to be a game-changer to boost air connectivity to Tier 1 and 2 cities.
ICATT Air Ambulance Service has placed two LoI for SARAS-Mk II for use as flying ICU and Operation Theater.
NAL is also showcasing at Wings India a functional sub-scale model of High Altitude Platforms (HAP), a solar-powered UAV capable of day and night operation at a height of 20 km for more than 90 days. HAP will be a game-changer to work as a pseudo satellite for telecommunication applications in the 5G and 6G spectrum with advantages like low data latency, high bandwidth, the flexibility of launch and low cost.
Mr.Mande said HAP development is on the fast track and the subscale model will fly by August to evaluate the aerodynamics, stability control and avionics and autopilot performance.
