Jaguar fighter jets NEW DELHI: With the continuing growth in the country’s military aviation industry, the defence ministry is now examining a proposal to set up a National Aerospace Testing Establishment (NATE) as a specialized umbrella body for testing and evaluating all kinds of aircraft, helicopters, drones and airborne weapons . The proposed NATE will ensure an “integrated and synergistic approach” among the armed forces, which have their own flight-testing establishments, as well as DRDO and defence PSUs like Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), among others. “Such a body will bring all disparate agencies under one umbrella and cut down the time-consuming process of first ground and then airborne testing of aircraft, which often delays projects.
It will enhance efficiency,” a source said. NATE will also be “a single-window body” for engaging with the private sector from the design and development phase to the final product certification, which is likely to shorten the long prototype development time-cycles. “If there is a one-stop shop, with all flight-testing and evaluation under it, private companies, MSMEs and start-ups will not have to run around.
It will be cost-effective for them,” another source said. “NATE will also be able to help them in pre-design assessments based on qualitative requirements laid down by the armed forces and undertake feasibility studies,” he added. The IAF, which has the premier Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishme.