First test flight of Saras Mk2 plane expected in December 2027: official

The Saras Mk2, an updated version of an India-designed civilian aircraft, is set to test-fly in December 2027.
| Photo Credit: CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories

The Saras Mk2, an updated version of an India-designed civilian aircraft, is set to test-fly in December 2027, Abhay Pashilkar, Director, CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL) told The Hindu. Only after several flight tests can the plane be declared airworthy enough to be potentially bought by the Indian Air Force (IAF), which has expressed interest in buying at least 15 of these planes.

However, the major draw of the Saras Mk2, were it to prove dependable, would be as a passenger plane and function as a 19-seater aircraft that can ferry people in towns and cities, where large airports and resulting infrastructure are absent. It can also be used as chartered planes or air ambulances.

The Mk2 plane is an upgraded version of the 14-seater Saras prototype planes that were developed by CSIR-NAL and first flew in 2004. However, a fatal crash that killed three IAF personnel in 2009 during a test flight significantly derailed progress. Only in 2016 was the project revived resulting in a major overhaul, including redesigning the wings of the plane, as well as re-positioning the engine. The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, a defence public sector body, will be involved in the manufacturing.

In 2022, at the Wings India air show in Bengaluru, the then-head of the CSIR, Shekhar Mande, had said that the first flight would likely be in June 2024 and production is expected to begin around 2026-27.

“There have been some delays in the project. This was originally planned for 2026. We have bought most of the material. The drawings have to get released and only after that we can begin manufacturing,” said Mr. Pashilkar.

“The wings and some of the composites will be made in-house. Metallic parts will be outsourced, maybe some of it in HAL. We will need large vendors for manufacturing the fuselage,” he explained.

Two prototypes of the Mk2 would be made to “speed up” the certification process. Once developed, it would take about a year for the first flight as these follow taxi trials, or ground-based runs at various speeds, said Mr. Pashilkar.

The avionics, or the electronic instrumentation in the cockpit, will be sourced from a company called Genesis. However apart from the basic avionics, there are several systems that will rely on the in-house “computer” developed at NAL.

The brake management and environmental control were also developed at NAL The older 14-seater version, or the first Saras, would not be flying but it is being used as a “test bed” for future planes. The plane, called PT1N, was flown at the Aero India show, Bengaluru, in 2019.

An aircraft having several sub-components had to comply with strict manufacturing requirement and complying with these regulatory processes — often involving multiple government bodies — led to delays in the scheduled testing of planes. Another major challenge was the availability of appropriately certified pilots, Mr. Pashilkar added.