Article Posted on : - Dec 30, 2010

India has also requested the Foreign Military Sale (FMS) of six C-130J aircraft from US.

NEW DELHI (PTI): India will soon build an indigenous 90-seater regional transport aircraft to fly on regional and feeder routes.

A 15-member committee, chaired by former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair, is expected to submit a feasibility report on the project by middle of next year, officials working on the project said.

The project is expected to draw from the experience of aerospace experts in state-run institutions such as the Defence Research and Development Organisation and Hindustan Aeronautics.

As part of the project, a design centre has been set up at Bangalore.

"The National Civil Aircraft Development Project involves configuration, market survey, development of a joint venture and full-scale engineering development for the ambitious plan," an official release said.

The design and development of the prototype is estimated to cost around Rs 5,000 crore and flight trials are expected in 2015-16.