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The high powered committee has former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief G Madhavan Nair as its chairman and met here on Wednesday at a special session convened by the union by cabinet secretary.
Nair who later briefed reporters said, the national project envisages design and development of a civilian transport aircraft which could be used for a feeder service connecting towns and cities across the country.
“The civilian transport aircraft will be designed and developed under public-private partnership (PPP) to meet national requirements with support from the Centre. “The government has recognised the need for such an indigenous civilian aircraft with 90-100 seater capacity for passenger service or freight service of equivalent capacity. A feasibility report will be prepared in a year to execute the project,” said Nair.
According to the former space scientist, the project report, design and development cost of the aircraft will take a year to prepare and would be a Rs 5000 crore project. “The first prototype could roll out within four-five years after completion of the project report” Nair added.
The committee would again meet on May 27 to work out the modalities, including the type of aircraft to be developed, the infrastructure required and the development cycle from design to manufacturing of the aircraft in large numbers in partnership with the industry.
CSIR director-general S K Brahmachari said, “The design centre for the regional civilian aircraft project will be set up in Bangalore under the supervision of NAL. Private partners will be involved right from the design stage itself. We are also open to explore a joint venture for developing the engine with a global aerospace major”.
The NAL under supervision of CSIR will be the agency to implement the project in association with another PSU aviation major, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation.