HAL production under microscope after Hawk crash

Production quality at Hindustan Aeronautics has once again come under a microscope after the June 6th crash of a Hawk AJT trainer. Sources are citing quill-shaft failure as the cause of the crash. The aircraft had just over 1000 hours on the airframe. HAL was tasked with producing 99 of the 123 HAWK trainers, and most of the 272 SU-30MKI fighters bought from Russia.

There are rumors that Rolls Royce is reducing the time between overhaul for Indian produced engines from 2000 hours, to 1200 hours, until it's proven that production quality has improved to where they can go back to 2000 hours. HAL denies the claims and says that the cause of the HAWK crash is still under investigation.

There have been issues with HAL production quality in the past. There are currently 195 SU-30MKIs in service, most produced by them, and they have a dismal mission capable rate, at 55%.

NEW DELHI: Production quality of the country's only aircraft manufacturer, defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), is once again under the scanner after the crash of a Hawk advanced jet trainer (AJT) last month.

Sources said "quill-shaft failure" in the engine has emerged as the prime reason behind the crash of the twin-seat Hawk AJT, which went down in Odisha while on a training sortie from the Kalaikunda airbase in West Bengal on June 3. Fortunately, the two pilots managed to eject safely.

HAL is tasked with manufacturing 99 of the 123 Hawks ordered from BAE Systems, with transfer of technology, in the overall AJT project already worth well over Rs 16,000 crore till now. But the entire endeavor has been marred by politico-bureaucratic apathy, poor long-term planning, flawed multiple contracts and delayed delivery schedules.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

First thing I thought of when reading the thread title was HAL, the computer from 2001. He he he.

On the topic, I'd expect a lot of bad information to be tossed around, as whoever is at fault scrambles to cover their rears! Reminds me of the Michael Crichton novel, Disclosure.