Aviation Week & Space Technology - January 15, 2015

48 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JANUARY 15-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 AviationWeek.com/awst

DEFENSE EXPORT TRENDS

worker hours for the 26th T-50 to 30,000

for the 82nd, says an industry ofcial.

No direct evidence of T-50 produc-

tion subsidies is apparent, although

government funding in the South Ko-

rean aerospace industry is murky. The

industry ministry paid for an upgrade

to the KAI KT-1 propeller trainer so the

type could be sold to Turkey and Peru.

According to Cho, South Korea’s

ability to move into defense export

markets is based on its large domestic

demand, because it faces North Korea,

and its ability to produce near-high-

end equipment.

That has been most obvious in the

ground systems market, which not

only presented lower technical chal-

lenges than warships and aircraft but

is built on South Korea’s need for large

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

▼

$250

million

▼

$2.3

billion

▼

$3.6

South Korean Defense Exports billion

Source: Defense Acquisition Program Agency

Bindiya Thomas Bangalore, India

Branching Out

India is slowly building its export capacity

A

fter becoming known as the
world’s most aggressive im-
porter of weapons, India is
slowly building its ability to export
indigenously developed weapons sys-
tems to its Asian neighbors. Although
the move to exports has been national
policy for some time, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi is giving the push ad-
ditional steam, even drawing the atten-
tion of Chinese security analysts.
In 2014, India agreed to supply four
ofshore patrol vessels and possibly the
BrahMos missile to Vietnam as part of
a $100 million line of credit for military
goods ofered by New Delhi. India is
also interested in selling indigenously
developed hull-mounted sonars to
three or four friendly nations of which
Vietnam is one. India has sold its Bar-
racuda warship to Mauritius, and
plans to export two more to Sri Lanka.
Avinash Chander, the head of the
Defense Research and Development
Organization (DRDO), has said that In-
dia has a ‘‘list of equipment,’’ including
long-range missiles and the domesti-
cally developed Tejas light fighter, that
could be “sold as exports in direct com-
petition with countries like China.”
Chander is promoting the idea that
India could be a low-cost supplier of
weapons. He has noted that strategic

missiles such as the long-range versions

that China sells to Saudi Arabia could

be produced at one-third or one-fourth

the cost by India.

But the transition is moving slowly

because long-standing collaborative

export projects continue to inch for-

ward. To build its export portfolio

while simultaneously strengthening

its air force fleet, India has teamed

with Russia to develop the Multi-Role

Transport Aircraft (MTA), worth ap-

proximately $600 million.

The project, designed and developed

by India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

(HAL) and Russia’s United Aircraft

Corp. (UAC), will be suitable for mili-

tary and civil operations, according to

N.C. Agarwal, the chief executive of-

cer of the joint venture company, Mul-

tirole Transport Aircraft Ltd. This too

has been proceeding at a glacial pace.

The first test flight had been scheduled

for 2014, but that has been pushed to-

ward the end of 2017. The aircraft is

scheduled to enter service in 2018.

According to the terms of the agree-

ment, a total of 205 Ilyushin Il-214 air-

craft will be manufactured; the Rus-

sian air force will order 100 and the

Indian air force will take 45 (to replace

aging Antonov An-32 aircraft). The re-

maining 60 will be ofered for export.

“Considering the high export poten-

tial of the aircraft, its design ultimately

meets the requirements not only of

both Russian and Indian air forces

but of potential custom-

ers as well,” UAC states

on its website. “It is ex-

pected that in 2015-2020

a number of developing

countries can consider

the new transport air-

craft as an alternative not

only for An-12 and C-130

Hercules but to a smaller

An-26. The strong advan-

tage of the MTA in com-

parison with its rivals is its relatively

low price,” the website description

trumpets.

HAL will build the front fuselage,

wings and avionics while partner Irkut

Corp. will develop the aft and center

fuselage sections.

According to UAC, the MTA can

transport “a wide range of cargoes up

to 12,000 kg [26,455 lb.] over a range of

4,700 km [2,920 mi.] and up to 20,000

kg over a range of 2,000 km around-

Leaders here note that

India could produce long-range

missiles similar to those

China sells to Saudi Arabia, but

much more cheaply