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India's HAL signs memorandum of understanding with

Russia's UAC

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HAL to produce SJ-100 for the Indian market

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Would be the first passenger aircraft made in India

By Shivam Patel

NEW DELHI, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Indian state-owned

warplane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd said on

Tuesday it had signed an initial agreement to build civil

commuter aircraft with a Russian aerospace firm subject to

Western sanctions.

The agreement with United Aircraft Corporation marks a step

towards producing a passenger aircraft in India for the first

time, but risks stoking tensions with Western countries trying

to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Industry sources told Reuters earlier this month that Indian

refiners were poised to sharply curtail imports of Russian oil

as New Delhi seeks to mend relations with Washington and

persuade it to row back on hefty import tariffs imposed on

Indian goods.

The UAC is under U.S., European Union, and British sanctions

and is described by the U.S. Treasury as a key enterprise in

Russia's military-industrial complex.

India has said it does not subscribe to unilateral sanctions

and has criticised the targeting of its ties with Moscow as

unjustified and unfair, while accusing the West of double

standards because the EU and the U.S. still buy Russian goods

worth billions of dollars.

According to the memorandum of understanding signed in

Moscow, HAL will produce UAC's SJ-100 twin-engine, narrow-body

aircraft that typically seats up to 100 passengers, for domestic

customers. HAL has long partnered with the UAC, mainly by

building under licence the Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet for the

Indian Air Force.

"This collaboration between HAL and UAC is the result of

mutual trust between the organisations," HAL said in a

statement. "It's a step towards fulfilling the dream of

'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' in the civil aviation

sector."

The company said that the Indian aviation sector is

estimated to require more than 200 jets for regional

connectivity over the next 10 years and an additional 350 to

serve nearby international tourist destinations.

Amit Malviya, head of the information technology department

in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party,

said the pact was a boost to India's ambitions to become a

global manufacturing hub.

"With this, India enters the global civil aviation market,

long dominated by Airbus (Europe) and Boeing ( BA ) (U.S.)," Malviya

said in a post on X.