Kochi: Indian Navy’s industrial establishment Naval Aircraft Yard, Kochi, on Monday released the fiftieth Pegasus aircraft engine to undergo an overhaul at the facility.
Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Southern Naval Command, Vice Admiral SPS Cheema who unveiled the engine, said the Naval Aircraft Yard will have a larger role in the Navy’s scheme of things.
Naval Aviation is set to grow in an exponential manner over the next decade and the yard will be upgraded with most modern equipment over 5- 7 years.
“We are holding talks with the Naval headquarters on this topic,” he said. Former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral (Rtd) Arun Prakash and Vice-Admiral (Rtd) Dilip Deshpande also spoke.
Set up in 2001 as part of project Ashok which sought to indigenise overhauling of the Rolls Royse engine which powers the Sea Harrier aircraft of the Navy, the Naval Aircraft Yard has over the years accumulated expertise to take up the entire overhauling exercise which included repair, reassemble and testing.
The work was earlier used to be done in the Rolls-Royce plant in Scotland. An Aero engine Repair and overhaul Shop (AEROS), Pegasus Engine Test Bed and the Centre for Avionics Repair and Software Development were also set up as part of the project which cost about Rs 310 crore. It has already helped the country save foreign exchange of over Rs 1,800 crore.
The Pegasus engine makes the aircraft land and take off vertically. The Navy undertakes the overhaul after an engine does 850 hours of flight or 3000 hours of engine life recorder. It takes about three months to complete the job.
