March 04, 2013: In the next six-seven years, the ambitious National Civil Aircraft Development (NCAD) programme hopes to ready its first platform—a 100-seat civil passenger jet for Indian service and exports. A team from HAL and NAL recently made a presentation to the Planning Commission. It has been decided that HAL will be the lead integrator on the programme, along with the National Aeronautics Laboratory (NAL). A modalities of a consortium or joint venture are to be formalised shortly. According to HAL Chairman R.K. Tyagi, the NCAD programme envisages an investment of 7,500 crore—4,500 crore in design and 3,000 crore for prototype production.

On February 20, addressing young designers at HAL, former President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said, "There are opportunities and challenges such as developing 100-seat passenger jet which could be taken up by youngsters like you." A host of private sector companies are expected to be part of the programme. According to NAL, "The design and development of National Civil Aircraft will be carried out by a core team at NAL in configuration design, systems engineering, definition of subsystems, integration/flight testing and programme management. NAL will also be responsible for undertaking the detailed engineering design for the new aircraft. NAL is in the process of organising the teams to establish a design bureau which will address various engineering issues related to aircraft configuration, sub system definition, test and qualification programmes. The manpower for this will be formed from experts and engineers drawn from NAL, HAL, ADA, DRDO and ISRO. There is a plan to absorb experienced people from outside as well as bright young engineers providing an opportunity to work with cutting edge technologies associated with aviation."