HAL sets up Rs 208 cr rocket engine manufacturing facility

Bengaluru: The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has set up a Rs 208 crore Integrated Cryogenic Engine Manufacturing Facility (ICMF) here that would cater to the entire rocket engine production under one roof for Indian Space Research Organisation.

President Droupadi Murmu will inaugurate the state-of-the-art ICMF, set up over an area of 4,500 square metres housing over 70 hi-tech equipment and testing facilities for manufacturing cryogenic (CE20) and semi-cryogenic (SE2000) engines of Indian rockets, on Tuesday.

In 2013, an MOU was signed with ISRO for establishing the facility for manufacturing cryogenic engine modules at HAL, Aerospace Division, and it was subsequently amended in 2016 for setting up of ICMF with an investment of Rs 208 crore.

The commissioning of all the critical equipment for the manufacturing and assembly requirement has been completed, Bengaluru-headquartered HAL said on Monday, adding that the pre-production activities which involve preparation of the process and quality plans, and drawings, have also commenced.

HAL said in a statement it would start realising the modules by March 2023

HAL Aerospace Division manufactures liquid propellant tanks and launches vehicle structures of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV MK-II), GSLV Mk-III, and also stage integration for GSLV Mk-II.

“The facility (ICMF) will cater to the entire Rocket Engine Manufacturing under one roof for ISRO. The facility will boost self-reliance in manufacturing of Hi-thrust Rocket engines,” the HAL statement said.

Cryogenic engines are the world of the most widely used engine in launch vehicles, the statement said. Due to the complex nature of the cryogenic engine, to date, only a few countries — the USA, France, Japan, China, and Russia — have mastered the cryogenic technology.

On January five, 2014 India successfully flew GSLV-D5 with a cryogenic engine and became the sixth country in developing cryogenic engines, it said.

HAL-L&T consortium recently bagged the Rs 860 crore contract for the end-to-end realisation of five PSLVs over a period of four years from the NewsSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of the Department of Space.