Tata Advanced Systems Limited, which rolled out the country’s first made-in-India Sikorksy S-92 helicopter cabin from the Aerospace SEZ in Andhra Pradesh, now has plans to set up another helicopter cabin production facility in partnership with Finmeccanica’s AugustaWestland.
In February, 2009, the Tata Group had signed an MoU with AugustaWestland to establish a joint venture company for AW119 helicopter assembly, completion and delivery to customers worldwide. It had earlier indicated that the proposed facility’s first helicopter delivery is scheduled for 2011 and production will eventually rise to 30 units per annum.
The joint venture initiative, which set up the manufacturing facility at the aviation SEZ last year, plans to tranship the cabins to Sikorsky’s assembly unit in the US later this month. S-92 cabins, which were manufactured in Japan, would now be produced in India at Hyderabad.