Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the Helicopter Factory of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Tumakuru and said that the double-engine government has made Karnataka the “first choice” of investors.

The Prime Minister noted that the inauguration of the helicopter factory is an example of the same. “Tumakuru has got a big helicopter factory today.

Karnataka is a land of young talent and innovation. The world is seeing the manufacturing power of Karnataka from drone manufacturing to Tejas fighter planes. The double-engine government has made Karnataka the first choice of investors. The inauguration of the helicopter factory is an example of how the double-engine government works,” PM Modi said.

Recalling the laying of the foundation stone of the same factory in 2016, the Prime Minister said that he had resolved to reduce India’s dependency of security requirements on foreign countries.

“I got an opportunity of laying its foundation stone in 2016 with a resolution. The resolve was to make the dependency of our security requirements on foreign countries as less as possible. From modern assault rifles, aircraft carriers, to fighter jets are being manufactured by India,” he said.

Earlier today, PM Modi inaugurated the Helicopter Factory of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and unveils Light Utility Helicopter in Karnataka’s Tumakuru.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai were also present on occasion.

It is a dedicated new greenfield helicopter factory which will enhance the capacity and ecosystem to build helicopters.

Asia’s largest helicopter manufacturing facility, this helicopter factory will initially produce Light Utility Helicopters (LUH). LUH is an indigenously designed and developed 3-ton class, single-engine multipurpose utility helicopter with the unique feature of high manoeuvrability, informed the government on Saturday.

The factory will be expanded to manufacture other helicopters such as Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and Indian Multirole Helicopter (IMRH) as well as for repair and overhaul of LCH, LUH, Civil ALH and IMRH in the future. The factory also has the potential for exporting the Civil LUHs in future.

This facility will enable India to meet its entire requirement of helicopters indigenously and will attain the distinction of enabling self-reliance in helicopter design, development and manufacture in India.

The factory will have a manufacturing set-up of Industry 4.0 standards. Over the next 20 years, HAL is planning to produce more than 1000 helicopters in the class of 3-15 tonnes from Tumakuru. This will result in providing employment for around 6000 people in the region.