

Pingle Madhusudan Reddy, a designer and engineer at HAL, was the driving force behind the development of what was planned to be India’s first indigenous car. At present, HAL is mainly involved in the repair and overhaul of military aircraft, helicopters, jet engines and related systems, and collaborates in the Indian space program. The Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguar would follow.

Rotund takeoff license#
Over 150 of these were manufactured and supplied to the Indian Air Force and other customers.ĭuring the 1950s, the Indian government started to take an increasing stake in HAL and, in 1963, the company began construction of the Soviet MiG-21 aircraft under license for the Indian Air Force. HAL also designed and developed its own aircraft, starting with the 1951 HT-2 trainer.

In cooperation with the American Intercontinental Aircraft Company, HAL started its business by manufacturing under licence the Harlow PC-5 trainer, the Curtiss Hawk fighter and the Vultee bomber. The company, which was originally named Hindustan Aircraft Limited, was incorporated in 1940. In the end, it was not to be and the country instead went down the route of producing tried and tested foreign designs under licence. In the early 1950s, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a company unrelated to the well known Indian car manufacturer, Hindustan Motors, started work on a rugged and simple people’s car for India. In different circumstances, Hyderabad could have been the birthplace of India’s first indigenously designed and manufactured car. India’s cancelled project to build a people’s car of its own.
