In a major boost to Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed a contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for 240 AL-31FP Aero Engines for Su-30MKI aircraft at a cost of over Rs 26,000 crore.

The contract was inked by the senior officials of MoD and HAL in the presence of Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane, Secretary (Defence Production) Sanjeev Kumar and Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari in New Delhi on September 9, 2024.

"These aeroengines will be manufactured by the Koraput Division of HAL and are expected to fulfil the need of the Indian Air Force to sustain the operational capability of the Su-30 fleet for the defence preparedness of the country," read the statement issued by the Indian government.

HAL would  supply 30 aero-engines per annum as per the contractual delivery schedule. The supply of all 240 engines would be completed over the period of next eight years.

During the manufacturing, HAL plans to take support from the country’s defence manufacturing ecosystem, involving MSMEs and public & private industries.

By the end of the delivery programme, HAL would enhance the indigenisation content up to 63% to achieve an average of over 54%. This would also help increase the indigenous content of Repair and Overhaul tasks of the aero-engines.