Skanda Aerospace first private firm to build helicopter gears

In a first for a private company in India, Skanda Aerospace Technology Pvt Ltd (SATPL) on Thursday announced its plan to invest ~250 crore to set up a gearbox manufacturing facility at Hyderabad.

SATPL is a joint venture (JV) between the Hyderabad-based Raghu Vamsi Machine Tools (RMVT) and Texasbased Rave Gears LLC.

This production facility will be India’s first private company with the capability to manufacture helicopter gears and gearboxes. Given the growing demand for helicopters manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), there is likely to be a significant demand for gearboxes and drive trains.

Rave Gears, which will function as technology provider, will hold 55 per cent of SATPL, while RVMT & Investors will hold the remaining 45 per cent. The JV company will invest ~250 crore and provide employment to 1,000 workers in the next 3-5 years.

Rave Gears has also committed to provide Skanda Aerospace with assured annual orders to the tune of $9 million.

Rave Gears is a designer, manufacturer and system integrator of gears and precision drive trains catering to aerospace, defence, Formula 1 racing and industrial customers worldwide. Among Rave Gears’ customers are major original equipment manufacturers (OEMS) such as Boeing, Bell, Collins, BAE Systems, Rolls-royce, Mclaren and Nascar.

Raghu Vamsi is a supplier of high-precision products and subassemblies to OEMS such as Boeing, GE Aviation, Eaton and Honeywell. It has been in the precision manufacturing business for the last 15 years and is eyeing a predicted market size of $937 million. According to its Managing Director Vamsi Vikas Ganesula, Raghu Vamsi has almost doubled its turnover during each of the last three years. The total turnover amounted to about ~150 crore last year.

Like most companies in the precision manufacturing business, Raghu Vamsi has found growth to be a capital-intensive business, with each precision manufacturing machine costing in the region of $3 million.

Given the growing demand for helicopters manufactured by HAL, there is likely to be a significant demand for gearboxes and drive trains