According to a former member of the Indian Air Force (IAF), India could greatly benefit from technology transfer by collaborating with Russian aviation companies to produce components of their aircraft domestically.
The remarks by Vijainder K Thakur, a retired IAF Jaguar pilot, came hours after Andrey Boginsky, head of the Yakovlev design bureau, said the Russian company was planning to hold talks with Indian officials about manufacturing components for Russian aircraft in India.
India Lacks Expertise in the Production of Aircraft Components
Thakur highlighted that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), one of India's leading military aircraft manufacturers, and the private sector lack the necessary experience in producing components for contemporary commercial airlines.
"As such, India has a lot to gain in terms of technology transfer from any such collaboration," the defence analyst noted.
He believes that the profits from producing and selling components will also be excellent due to the high demand in Russia for domestic airliners like the SJ-100 and MC-21.
Both Airbus and Boeing are now out of the Russian market for good. Moreover, the entire Airbus and Boeing fleets of Russian airlines need to be replaced.
Russia's Boeing, Airbus Fleet Needs Replacement
"India's gains from the collaboration would be maximised if HAL too takes on local manufacture of SJ-100 under its Regional Airliner Project," Thakur stated.
The military analyst highlighted the potential of the SJ-100, being a product of India, to swiftly dominate the Indian market due to the backing from the government's Make-in-India campaign.
Thakur disclosed that there has never been a collaboration between New Delhi and Moscow before. Russian airlines have previously recognized the superior commercial feasibility of Western airliners. However, he underlined, that this has now changed.
Russian Airliners on Par With Western Ones
He pointed out that with the MC-21 and the SJ-100, Russia has two aircraft that are on a par with Western commercial aircraft of similar performance.
"Russia's breakthrough development of the PD-14 high bypass turbofan (MC-21 power plant) with performance characteristics similar to Western engines has changed the dynamics," Thakur asserted.
Thakur explained the motive behind this modification by stating that the PD-14 engine family encompasses the PD-8, which provides the power for the SJ-100. These two engines share the same core.