HAL aspires to be $6 billion firm in a decade

"HAL plans to provide seamless maintenance support, encompassing first and second line support, for aircraft and helicopters at customer bases", he said.

The target would call for a multifold increase in production requirements, and HAL believes groth in India`s aviation sector will act as an opportunity for it to meet its growth objectives, Nayak said.

With 19 production units and 10 research design centres in eight locations in India, the company has an impressive track record including 14 types of aircrafts manufactured with in-house R&D and 14 produced under licence, he said.

Serving for seven decades, HAL has positioned itself as a comprehensive solution providers to the Indian Defence Services in aviation by contributing to their modernisation efforts of making aircraft and heicopters of various types and technology base, he said.

"With new initiatives and future programmes, the company continues to be a major partner of the Defence Forces," he added.

HAL has already diversified into aerospace related fields, with its aerospace division supplying critical components, structural assemblies and tankages for various launch vehicles and sattelites of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Nayak said.