HAL Mulls Setting Up Logistics Bases In Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia And Sri Lanka To Boost Defence Exports

In a bid to boost India’s share in the global defence exports, the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is planning to set up logistics bases in four nations outside of India, reports Times of India.

The four nations where HAL plans to set up bases are Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The development is likely to help HAL woo the said nations to purchase Indian state-of-the-art light combat aircraft Tejas and other military helicopters.

HAL's chairman and managing director (MD) R Madhavan stressed that the company has identified South East Asia, West Asia and North Africa as priority areas to push the export of its elite military aircraft Tejas, attack helicopter Rudra and advanced light helicopter Dhruv.

The logistics bases which HAL is planning to set up in these nations will deliver maintenance services for aircraft from Russia, whose serviceability record is very poor, which is an issue also faced by India.

The development is in sync with the goal of achieving $5 billion defence sector exports in the next five years, as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.