GE Aerospace Inks MoU With HAL To Produce Fighter Jet Engines, HAL Shares Rise

In a major announcement amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit, GE Aerospace on Thursday inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to jointly produce fighter jet engines for Indian Air Force's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk-II -- Tejas. Soon after the announcement, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited shares witnessed a rally of 1.13% on BSE in morning trade till 9:42 am. Current market price of HAL stock is Rs 3806.10 per share. The deal between HAL and GE is expected to boost defence ties between India and US.

"The agreement includes the potential joint production of GE Aerospace's F414 engines in India, and GE Aerospace continues to work with the US government to receive the necessary export authorisation for this," the US company stated in a statement.
It described the Memorandum of Understanding with HAL as a "key element" in strengthening defence cooperation between India and the US, according to a PTI report.

"This is a historic agreement made possible by our longstanding partnership with India and HAL," said H Lawrence Culp Jr, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GE and CEO of GE Aerospace.

The agreement will advance GE Aerospace's earlier commitment to build 99 engines for the IAF as part of the LCA-Mk-II programme, added the PTI report.

"It puts the company in a strong position to create a family of products in India, including the F404 engine that currently powers the LCA Mk1 and LCA Mk1A aircraft and GE Aerospace's selection for the prototype development, testing and certification of the AMCA programme with our F414-INS6 engine," the statement said.

In addition, GE will continue to collaborate with the Indian government on the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) Mk2 engine programme.

Stock Performance Of HAL: Meanwhile, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd stock's 52-week high price is Rs 3950.00 per share and 52-week low price is Rs 1718 per share, respectively. The company has a market capitalisation of Rs 1,25,589.26 crore. HAL shares gave return of 112% in last 1-year, 267% return in last 2-years, and 427% return in last 3-years.

About HAL: The Company which had its origin as Hindustan Aircraft Limited was incorporated on 23 Dec 1940 at Bangalore by Shri Walchand Hirachand, a farsighted visionary, in association with the then Government of Mysore, with the aim of manufacturing aircraft in India, according to its official website.

About GE Aerospace: It is a world-leading provider of jet engines, components and systems for commercial and military aircraft with a global service network to support these offerings, as per its official website.