Industry - Strengthening Ties

With the helicopter market expected to “fully recover” by 2012, Turbomeca, part of the Safran Group, has reworked its strategy to stay afloat. Three key aspects emerge—connecting on a continuous basis with the existing customers’ base; restructured organisation; and strengthening operations in key markets including China, India and Russia.

Turbomeca organises interactions with its operators region-wise, but for Indian operators there is an exclusive session and this year it was organised on November 25 and 26, 2010, at New Delhi. Major General P.K. Baroli, Additional Director General, Army Aviation was the chief guest. The opening session of the two day symposium was addressed by Prasad Sampath, Design Chief, Rotor Wing Research & Development Centre (RWRDC), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Speaking at the conference, Major General Baroli recounted about his three decades of association with Turbomeca engines and HAL. “Turbomeca engines are the most reliable. Ever since I joined the Indian Army, I have been flying the Cheetah, Chetak or the advanced light helicopter (ALH), all with Turbomeca engines,” he said.

Turbomeca officials from India and France interacted with the operators—one day exclusively for the civilians and another for the armed and paramilitary forces. Giving details of Turbomeca’s strategy, after the two-day interaction with its Indian operators, Philippe Couteaux, Vice President and General Manager, Airframers, Turbomeca said, “We want to be as close to our customers as possible. There are about 2,400 customers worldwide and in India we have about 30 civilian, besides the armed forces and the paramilitary. We engage with them constantly.”

As the economic crisis snowballed, the helicopter market went plummeting. “The helicopter market has not restarted on the recovery path unlike other sectors in the aviation industry. The smaller and the lighter helicopter segment was the worst hit. Turbomeca produced about 1,300 engines in 2008, around 1,100 in 2009, fell to about 900 in 2010 and is expected to be around that much in 2011. The crisis was mostly in the civilian helicopter market as the military segment was more or less stable. We hope to see recovery in 2012.” However, Philippe mentioned that the helicopter market is set to grow “dramatically” in the next 10 years with Indian demand expected to go up by 122 per cent from 829 helicopters in 2009 to 1,844 helicopters in 2019. There are almost 140 civil engines of the total of 300 Turbomeca engines in India. Underscoring Turbomeca’s commitment to the Indian market, Philippe stated that Turbomeca local representation ensured coordination on programmes; technology transfer assistance; offset development; and product support for helicopter fleets.

Asked about its association with HAL, he said, “There is an agreed transfer of technology plan with HAL for Ardiden1 (Shakti) in four phases. In phase 1, we provide the complete engine to HAL and in the following phases HAL will gradually manufacture. In the ultimate phase, HAL will manufacture 70 per cent of the engine, with Turbomeca providing 30 per cent of smaller kits.” On where the programme was at present, Philippe said, “It is between phase 1 and 2” and that the ultimate phase would depend on the helicopter development programme of HAL. Turbomeca has been supporting indigenous platforms such as advanced light helicopter (ALH); reconnaissance and observation helicopter (ROH); Indian multirole helicopter (IMRH); light combat helicopter (LCH); light utility helicopter (LUH) and Jaguar of Indian Air Force (via RRTM Adour engine). The LCH is equipped with Shakti engines. “Turbomeca will support the Indian helicopter industry, both civil and military, including the Adour powering the Hawk and Jaguar.”

Talking about Safran’s India footprint, besides being the number one supplier of commercial aircraft engines, the group had Air India, Jet Airways, JetLite, GoAir and SpiceJet as customers.