Bengaluru: National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) is all set to revive the three-decade old plan to build India’s first multi-purpose air passenger aircraft. A clear road map for the revival of 14-seater aircraft SARAS has been charted out.
The ambitious project was kept in the cold storage in 2009 when a test flight crashed, killing three crew on board.
Sharing the revival plan with the media on Thursday, Minister for Science and Technology Harshavardhan said, “Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have given go-ahead for carrying out flight testing and evaluation of Saras and this study will take a year’s time and provide essential information towards arriving at aircraft configuration.”
When questioned about Saras receiving any fresh funds, Harshavardhan said, “Whatever is needed to revive Saras will be allotted.”
National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) director Jitendra Jadav said, “To address the lacunas and to configure the design it will take one year. After arriving at the configuration for the production we may need Rs 400-500 crore.”
