SIKA Aerospace & Defence, India (SIKA) and Aerotek Aviation Engineering Ltd, UK (Aerotek UK) have announced the launch of Aerotek Sika Aviation Engineering, which is a recently established joint venture that has been set up as a Make in India initiative to provide world-class manufacturing and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of Landing Gear, Hydraulic LRUs and Actuators for fixed and rotary wing aircraft.
Located within SIKA’s 6.5 acre campus in Bangalore, the Aerotek Sika facility, which has the distinction of being the first of its kind within the private sector in India, is capable of handling all types of Landing Gear manufacturing and MRO for helicopters and aircraft, from trainer aircraft and UAVs up to the size of narrow body aircraft. Aerotek Sika has been established from day one as a mirror site—both in terms of facilities and processes—to the Aerotek UK plant in England, in line with international standards.
Having focused initially on military customers, Aerotek Sika has over the course of the last few months been audited and approved by the Indian Ministry of Defence’s Center for Military Airworthiness & Certification (CEMILAC) for “Manufacturing, Assembly, Testing, MRO of Landing Gear, Hydraulic LRUs and Actuators,” as well as by various divisions of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
Subsequently, Aerotek Sika has secured a customer launch order for the manufacture, assembly and testing of a number of shipsets of a 6.5 ton fixed wing aircraft. The company has also secured a separate contract for the design, development, qualification and certification of the landing gear retraction actuator for a 2 ton medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, which has already completed the critical design review milestone and commenced prototype manufacturing.
Going forward, Aerotek Sika is geared to expand its manufacturing and MRO for Indian customers, thereby saving valuable foreign exchange and providing significantly reduced turnaround times (TATs). In addition, the company is primed to enter into alliances with global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to enable the latter to provide Indian customers with localised support for their landing gears resulting in faster TATs and optimised costs considering simplified logistics. Moreover, through such alliances OEMs can also liquidate offset obligations through Aerotek Sika with respect to both manufacture and MRO of landing gears, with such offsets being eligible for the 1.5x multiplier available for MSMEs.
Finally, in support of its vision to service a global customer base, Aerotek Sika has also initiated the certification process required for civil/commercial MRO, and is working towards obtaining Part 145 approvals by the end of 2017 from the Director General of Civil Aviation (India), European Aviation Safety Agency and Federal Aviation Administration (USA).
About SIKA
Sika Aerospace & Defence is the primary brand of Sika Interplant Systems Limited (SIKA), which is an engineering driven company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The Company’s main lines of business comprise: engineered projects & systems; interconnect solutions & electronic module integration; and MRO. Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Bangalore, SIKA is an AS 9100C and CEMILAC certified company that has designed, manufactured, integrated, certified, supplied and serviced a range of high-precision A&D Systems that including Mechanical, Electro-mechanical and Hydraulic assemblies.
About Aerotek UK
Aerotek has over the last two-and-a-half decades provided to customers across military aerospace, airlines and private aircraft operators with high levels of expertise, quality and service in the manufacture and overhaul of complete landing gear, related actuation systems and hydraulic LRUs. Aerotek’s capabilities cover a variety of aircraft landing gear and are held in high regard on a worldwide basis within the aerospace and aviation sectors for its customer support and quality. Aeroteks’s approvals/certifications include EASA Part 145 (Europe), FAR Part 145 (USA) and UK CAA Part 145, as well as various OEM approvals.
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