The Defence Corridor to come up in Coimbatore will get a major boost with the country’s premier defence project of making the Advance Medium Compact Aircraft (AMCA) expected to take shape here.
Air Marshal B. Suresh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Air Command, said here on Wednesday that 20 acres had been identified by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the AMCA project in Coimbatore.
“Air Force Station Sulur is unique that it’s the IAF’s only airbase to accommodate and operate fighter, transport, and helicopter aircraft together. It is one of the most active air bases of the IAF. The Defence Minister last month announced the opening of the Tamil Nadu Defence Corridor of which Coimbatore is an integral part. With that happening, Sulur will gain added importance,” said Air Marshal Suresh at Air Force Station, Sulur.
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According to him, Coimbatore is a hub of industries and that is one of the reasons why the Defence Minister has announced the opening of Defence Corridor here.
“When we talk about the aviation industry, we need to have an ecosystem around it. IAF is already looking for instrumentation and calibration from industries here,” he said.
A. K. Puntambekar, Air Officer Commanding at Air Force Station, Sulur, said, “We have interactions with the industry regularly in the form of seminars and conferences wherein we have got encouraging participation. Our demands and the capabilities of the local industries are worked out in such interactions. As a result, over the years, we have been able to develop many indigenous items for fighter and transport aircraft which are already in service and use”.
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Adding more on the indigenisation, Air Marshal Suresh said that IAF was till able to operate very old aircraft by developing parts for them as procuring spares was difficult.
“So there is a need for indigenisation. Not many people know that IAF has indigenised 47,000 to 49,000 lines of spares. These range from small parts to major components. That is where the strength of Coimbatore is and it is the future,” he said.
Citing the commendation for indigenously developed Light Compact Aircraft from every quarters, Air Marshal Suresh pointed out that it was not affordable to keep depending on foreign supplies.
“Make in India has a very strong thrust. For this, we need to have a system, skill care centre and an industry in place. That is where the strength of Coimbatore lies. So, whatever we have now will be multiplied tenfold. I can assure you that this will happen in the next five to ten years,” he said.