ISRO chairman inaugurates facilities at HAL to support LVM3 programme

New Propellant Tank Production and CNC Machining facility inaugurated at HAL to boost ISRO's rocket production capabilities.

A state-of-the-art Propellant Tank Production and Computer Numerical Centre (CNC) Machining facility was inaugurated at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s (HAL) Aerospace Division on Wednesday by ISRO Chairman S. Somanath.

HAL said the newly established facilities would provide a major boost to ISRO’s ability to meet its growing production needs, particularly for India’s heaviest and most powerful rocket, the Launch Vehicle Mark–3 (LMV3).

“Currently, the existing capacity allows for only two LVM3 launches per year, whereas ISRO’s requirements stand at six launches annually. The facilities will address this gap, enabling HAL to manufacture enough critical components to support the production of six LVM3 rockets per year,” HAL said.

“HAL has enormous capacities and this potential should be explored in the larger interest of both the organisations. HAL will play a larger role in ISRO’s future missions hence should focus on emerging technologies, designing challenges, and take up end-to-end tasks to ease pressure on ISRO,” Mr. Somanath said.

C.B. Ananthakrishnan, CMD (additional charge), HAL, said the ongoing collaboration with ISRO would accelerate human spaceflight missions and development of Next-Generation Launch Vehicles (NGLV).

During the programme, in a symbolic gesture, the first Gaganyaan Service Module and LVM3 ½ U Isogrid Version Hardware were also handed over to ISRO. The Propellant Tank Production Facility will specialise in the manufacturing of high-performance fuel and oxidiser tanks, critical components for the LVM3 launch vehicle of size 4 m in diameter and up to 15 m in length. The CNC Machining Facility houses advanced Computer Numerical Control machines for handling high-precision fabrication of 4.5 m class Rings and Propellant Tank Domes of LVM3.