Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (Hindi: हिंदुस्तान एरोनॉटिक्स लिमिटेड; IAST: Hindustān eronawṭiks limiṭeḍ) (HAL; हि ए लि) is an Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company based in Bangalore, Karnataka. It is governed under the management of the Indian Ministry of Defence.
The government-owned corporation is primarily involved in the operations of the aerospace industry. These include manufacturing and assembly of aircraft, navigation and related communication equipment and airports operation.
HAL built the first military aircraft in South Asia. It is currently involved in the design, fabrication and assembly of aircraft, jet engines, helicopters and their spare parts. It has several facilities spread across India. The locations where the manufacturing plants are operated by HAL include Nasik, Korwa, Kanpur, Koraput, Lucknow, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The German engineer Kurt Tank designed the HF-24 Marut fighter-bomber, the first fighter aircraft made in India.
Hindustan Aeronautics has a long history of collaboration with several other international and domestic aerospace agencies such as Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Sukhoi Aviation Corporation, Elbit Systems, Israel Aircraft Industries, RSK MiG, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce plc, Dassault Aviation, MBDA, EADS, Tupolev, Ilyushin Design Bureau, Dornier Flugzeugwerke, the Indian Aeronautical Development Agency and the Indian Space Research Organisation.