Industry participation in Aviation
Engineering Sector in Central Asia: Ordnance Factories and Start-Ups
Dr Rajneesh Kumar
Abstract
India’s Ordnance Factories (OFs), traditionally tasked with supplying arms
and equipment to the armed forces, have long struggled with inefficiency,
limited innovation, and financial losses. Their corporatisation in 2021 into
seven Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) aimed to infuse
competitiveness, yet their presence in aviation remains marginal, confined
largely to parachutes and air armaments. This article examines the feasibility
of OFs expanding into the aviation maintenance sector in Central Asia (CAR), a
region of strategic importance to India. While their experience in precision
engineering and defence manufacturing offers some promise, major challenges
persist. These include inadequate exposure to aviation systems, dependence on
Russian approvals for servicing Soviet-origin platforms, high costs of
establishing Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) hubs, and competition from
entrenched players like Russia and China. Opportunities, however, exist in
leveraging Indian private sector agility, start-up innovation, and training
exchanges with CAR nations. A hybrid model combining OFs’ institutional
experience with private sector dynamism, supported by strong diplomacy, could
offer a realistic pathway. Ultimately, OFs’ role in CAR’s aviation maintenance
appears more of a long-term aspiration than an immediate reality, requiring
phased reforms, capacity-building at home, and carefully crafted international
collaborations.
Keywords:
Ordnance Factories, Aviation Maintenance, Central Asia, Defence Diplomacy, MRO,
India-Russia Cooperation
Full Paper
Background
India's Ordnance
Factories (OFs), had been functioning under the Department of Defence
Production in the Government of India and traditionally mandated to supply the
arms, ammunition, clothing and other special equipment like Parachutes and
vehicles to the Indian armed forces. But the experience tells that these
enterprises have not been not doing well and not being the examples of great
innovations or entrepreneurship. Frankly put across, these OFs have actually
turned out to be the white elephants by being the loss-making units and far
from performing the role mandated to them.
Considering an urgent
need to improve their performance and enthuse a sense of competitiveness, on
October 01, 2021, a total of 41 Ordnance factories were corporatised and put
under the newly formed DPSUs called Munitions India Ltd, Armoured Vehicles Nigam
Ltd, Advanced Weapons and Eqpt India Ltd, Troop Comforts Ltd, Yantra India Ltd,
India Optel Ltd and Gliders India Ltd. But none of these companies were found
anywhere close to the aviation activity other than the Gliders India Ltd which
manufactures the brake parachutes and is now trying to make ejection
parachutes. But however exciting as an idea these newly formed DPSUs may appear,
their performance is yet to be seen before deliberating upon the prospects of
their participation in the Aviation engineering sector in the Central Asian
Region (CAR).
Feasibility of expanding the umbrella of OFs in Aviation
maintenance in the CAR
Till now OFs have no
role in the area of aircraft engines, avionics and aircraft structural
components. It’s not envisaged also. But since these OFs have traditionally
been involved in precision engineering, metallurgy and manufacturing in the
military support manufacturing sector, their experience and the feasibility of
their participation in the aviation engineering sector in the Central Asian
countries can be further explored. This would be in line with India’s aspirations
to expand strategic wings utilising among all, its aviation engineering experience
across its national boundaries especially in the CAR which seem to offer a wide
scope for that. This would be a step towards helping these OFs in the form of
opportunities to increase their business internationally and enhance the
profits.
While, the idea of
expanding the operations by the Ordnance Factories in CAR may seem encouraging,
the success of these producing the desired results would be directly
proportionate to their capability enhancement in the aviation sector and that
too at a faster pace subject to an explicit consent of the CAR nations and especially
Russia’s, being the parent of the CAR states.
However, even if we
presume that India would be in a position to undertake Maintenance, Repair and
Overhaul (MRO) of Russian origin military aviation assets, we need to
understand that its only HAL in India that had been doing it by virtue of the
technology transferred to it by the Russian OEMs. This would also necessitate a
clearance by Russia to India undertaking the overhaul of the Russian aircraft
fleet in CAR, and that too only of the types of aircraft held and operated by
the IAF.
Therefore, if at all
we aspire to carry out MRO of Russian origin aviation assets in a third country
say Central Asia, which happens to be under Russian influence, we would
certainly need to get an explicit concurrence of the Russians being the OEM.
Without an unambiguous consent of the Russians, it just cannot be done. Also,
even if we get the required clearances, the setting up of MRO facilities in any
CAR state would be an expensive affair. Keeping in mind the limited number of
the aircraft that these CAR countries possess, the idea to establish the MRO
hubs in CAR may not turn out to be economically worthwhile.
However,
notwithstanding the above seemingly economic unviability the CAR, comprising
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan holds enormous
strategic value for India and we can therefore aspire to expand the Indian
footprint in the CAR by all possible means. Also, we find that some of the CAR
nations may be in a position to offer opportunities to India to contribute by
virtue of its proven aviation engineering expertise to the creation and
sustainment of the aviation maintenance capabilities in the civil as well as
military aviation sectors.
This aspiration gets
emboldened owing to the fact that some kind of infrastructure to support the
aviation engineering in terms of MRO facilities, training institutions and
spare parts manufacturing units especially pertaining to the Russian origin
platforms and defence hardware already exists in some of the Central Asian
Nations. In view of this, while the Indian private sector stands bright chances
of playing a role, the Ordnance Factories also enjoy the prospects of making an
impact through active ToT and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
collaborations.
This confidence
emanates from the fact that the possible participation of the Indian Ordnance
Factories in contributing their bit to the aviation maintenance activity in the
CAR nations, would in all likelihood help them to be self-sustaining with
ability to self-finance their R&D and development needs, besides enhancing
their sales especially in face of the Govt support to them having already
minimised consequent upon their recent corporatisation.
Feasibility of the OFs to Participate in Aviation
Maintenance Sector
Considering the
emerging growth of the start-up players in India, the OFs in the future may be
in a position to domestically obtain the IPR collaborations and expertise to
reverse-engineer, upgrade and maintain the complex aircraft systems, e.g.
aircraft components especially pertaining to the avionics and structure. This
advantage drives home the possibility of creating and sustaining the ambitious
enterprise through technology transfers, spare parts manufacturing capabilities
and MRO partnerships, tailored to the specific needs of the business culture
and financial conditions prevailing in the CAR nations.
These joint MRO hubs,
backed by the technical know-how of the Ordnance Factories with active support
of the Indian start-ups, may be in a position to offer an opportunity to the
budding Indian entrepreneurs comprised of engineers and specialists from the
IITs and IISc to also train the local talent available in the CAR countries,
thereby building the long-term capacity besides creating employment
opportunities for Indian entrepreneurs as well as Central Asian nationals.
Besides aviation
maintenance, the Ordnance Factories also appear to standing a chance to support
infrastructure development by collaborating with Indian private sector players
and Central Asian governments, so as to diversify the aircraft component
manufacturing facilities. These would not only go a long way in supporting the
domestic aviation needs of the Indian aviation sector but could also form part
of a larger global supply chain eco-system, thereby positioning India as well
as Central Asia as major contributors to the global aerospace ecology.
Furthermore, with
India’s experience and prospects in defence diplomacy & industrial
cooperation supported by the Indian initiatives like “Make in India” and the
Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP), the possibilities of
capacity build-up and technology transfers, positively offer a scope for deeper
strategic engagements between India and Central Asia. In addition, Central
Asia’s amenability to external collaborations, also offers a fertile ground for
such ambitious Indian initiative looking at the mutual benefits of both the
sides.
The Indian Ordnance
Factories being in the manufacturing field seem to offer arena for research and
expertise more than just the products. These entities bring decades’ long
institutional experience in engineering excellence and cost-effectiveness in
the manufacturing & system integration. By playing an active role in
Central Asia’s aviation maintenance infrastructure development, these factories
definitely enjoy the prospects to facilitating regional stability, deepening
the economic ties besides helping India to steer its soft power in the region
and establish itself firmly where a great power competition is already
intensifying.
Analytics and the Way Forward
The proposal to
diversify the capabilities and leverage the strengths of India’s Ordnance
Factories to support aviation infrastructure development in Central Asia sounds
ambitious and strategically aligned with India's broader foreign policy and
defence manufacturing capability building objectives. However, while the
concept sounds theoretically ambitious, its practical implementation seems
constrained with certain structural, capability-related and geopolitical
limitations.
Central Asia
represents great strategic prospects as well as geopolitical challenges for
India amidst power game going on among the USA, China and Russia that are already
active in the CAR. India’s proposed engagement through industrial
collaborations in the military and civil aviation sectors seem to offer India
an ambitious avenue to practice its soft power diplomacy in the CAR.
The commonality of
Soviet-origin platforms in both India and Central Asian states makes Indo-CAR
technical cooperation a positive feasibility, as Indian aviation engineers are
already trained and experienced in maintaining, overhauling and even upgrading
the Russian origin aircraft and systems, especially those operating in the
Indian military aviation.
Nonetheless,
translating the possibility of this alignment into tangible action requires a
realistic assessment of inherent capabilities and capacity limitations of the
Indian Ordnance Factories. Presently the exposure of Indian ordnance factories
in the sphere of military aviation is grossly restricted to the manufacturing
of only parachutes and air armament.
Till now the Indian
OFs have been manufacturing only the air armament in terms of aerial bombs of
1000 lbs, 500 kg, 450 kg, 250 kg & 100-120 kg capacity. In aircraft gun
ammunition the OFs offer calibers 23 MM & 30 MM and 12.7 MM for Helicopters
besides the Ejection seat cartridges and Power cartridges. In addition, the
participation of the OFs in the sphere of Arrester Barrier Systems, Pilot
parachutes and Brake parachutes offers promising scope.
Recently the Indian
ordnance factories have also supplied the air armament to the tune of
approximately 2000 Cr to Armenia in Eurasia. To further validate the point,
recently India has proudly positioned itself as the top supplier of Armenia’s
arms imports accounting for approximately 43% of Armenia’s military imports
during between 2022-2024, being only from India. This seems to be a possibility
apparently due to Armenia’s dissatisfaction experienced from disruptions in the
Russian supply chain, possibly due to Russia’s hostile engagement with Ukraine
for the past around three years[i]. In addition, recently the
Ordnance Parachute factory located in Kanpur in UP has initiated the
manufacturing of ejection parachutes for the Light Combat aircraft Tejas[ii].
Constraints and Alternatives
But unfortunately,
apart from the equipment like Parachutes of different types and capacity and
air armament including the cartridges for the ejection seats of the fighter
aircraft, the experience of the Indian Ordnance factories in the maintenance of
aviation machinery is considered grossly inadequate to facilitate its
participation even in the Indian aviation maintenance industry, not to talk of
participating in the same in the CAR nations.
Notwithstanding the
above, there is a bright possibility of involving the support of the growing
Indian start-ups for expanding the domestic capacity and possibilities of
contributing actively to the aviation maintenance activity in CAR nations,
primarily with government support in harnessing the talent pool within the
country, the Indian Ordnance factories may consider stepping up their efforts
first to fulfil the operational requirements of the Indian armed forces for the
ranges for which they already have the infrastructure and capacities in place,
before they thinking of embarking upon marking their presence in the aviation
maintenance sector in the CAR or any other nations.
This apart, Central
Asian region is landlocked and therefore becomes logistically challenged in
terms of accessibility, notwithstanding the ongoing focus on the
operationalisation of the Chabahar Port and INSTC. Creating and sustaining the
aviation infrastructure in such regions would definitely require a robust and
sustained logistical support encompassing the operations ranging from equipment
transportation to setting up maintenance and training ecosystems. Despite a
renewed focus and a positive will exhibited by the government, India's own
defence production ecosystem is heavily struggling and has started progressing
only recently. In this situation, exporting skilled personnel or equipment to
support the industrial operations abroad would certainly pose the cost and
policy challenges.
The proposal of
Indian ordnance factories participating in the aviation maintenance activity in
CAR nations also envisions Indian engineers imparting training to the Central
Asian personnel. While India certainly has a skilled pool of aviation
engineers, most of them are already tied to domestic projects facing inherent
capacity constraints. Setting up long-term training centers abroad would
require institutional collaborations with Indian academia, private sector
players, and certainly the DRDO, which unfortunately is itself stretched thin
in delivering the cutting-edge R&D outputs.
Most importantly, the
Central Asian states have historically relied on Russia for aviation support.
Even as they diversify, Russia’s deep-rooted military-industrial linkages and
political influence in the region would continue to dominate the scenario even
in future. China, too, has made inroads through the Belt and Road Initiative
(BRI), offering turnkey solutions and infrastructure development on
unbelievably concessional terms. In face of the emerging tough competition,
India, despite its international goodwill and image of a Vishwa Guru in world
affairs, appears to lack the required economic robustness and infrastructural
constraints to get into competition head-on, atleast till now. Any Indian
initiative in this sphere will have to be precisely scoped, meticulously
calculated and strategically supported by more proactive diplomatic and policy
efforts, besides catering for well calculated industrial strategies.
This apart, India’s
current engagement with Central Asian countries is largely based upon cultural
diplomacy, energy cooperation and education in addition to other soft power
drivers. There are limited defence industrial agreements or aviation-specific collaborations
in place, except for some joint military drills held mainly under the ambit of
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Without focused bilateral treaties or
framework agreements in the aviation maintenance activity, the implementation
of infrastructure-related ventures, especially in the sensitive aviation sector
may in all likelihood face the regulatory and legal ambiguities.
Alternatively, we can
also offer the CAR countries to conduct the MRO activities on military aviation
assets in the HAL facilities within India, provided the successful efforts of
the Indian diplomacy in convincing the Russians for that. Similar point may
apply to the MRO of civil airlines aircraft as well.
India has the
aviation training institutes of global standards, both in the civil and
military domain. We could also train the CAR countries engineers, pilots, radar
controllers and air traffic controllers in India in our training institutes
because opening up for a training center in CAR countries for the limited
number of trainees of these countries may be subject to being strictly cost
effective.
Also, when we explore
the relative advantages and disadvantages of involving the private sector,
especially when it comes to entering Central Asia’s aviation maintenance and
engineering space, we find that the public and private sectors both bring very
different strengths and weaknesses to the table. Public sector units like the
corporatised Ordnance Factories have scales, decades of manufacturing
experience and existing relationship with the government and armed forces.
They’re also better positioned to work in politically sensitive environments,
where state-to-state agreements and defence diplomacy matter. But the PSUs/OFs
tend to be slower to adapt, bogged down by bureaucracy and less nimble in
chasing innovation. The private sector, on the other hand, is usually more
agile, market-driven and quick to adopt new technologies by virtue of the
qualities that are essential in a competitive and fast-moving aviation market.
Companies like Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) or Mahindra Defence Systems Limited
or L&T Defence etc besides private MRO players already have international
collaborations and are comfortable operating in global supply chains. However,
they often lack the political leverage and government-backed security
assurances that the creation of such ventures in CAR might require. Therefore,
a hybrid model where public sector / OFs provide the strategic umbrella and
political backing, while the private players would drive technology, efficiency
and execution, would offer the best of both worlds. In Central Asia’s complex
mix of geopolitics and niche market size, this collaborative approach might be
a realistic way to achieve meaningful results.
Summing Up
While the idea of
using Indian Ordnance Factories to support aviation engineering infrastructure
in Central Asia sounds strategically ambitious and diplomatically desirable,
its feasibility is constrained by factors like an extremely limited
specialisation in aviation, bureaucratic inertia, export unpreparedness,
financial constraints and fierce competition from other global players already
active in the CAR.
OFs
have been slow to innovate, heavy on bureaucracy and often financially
inefficient. Corporatisation in 2021 was meant to fix that, but the reality is
these factories are still far from having the technical depth needed for
aircraft engines, avionics, or structural systems. Right now, their aviation
role is mostly limited to making ammunition, aerial bombs, parachutes and a few
other related items—not exactly the toolkit for running MRO hubs abroad.
Geopolitically
the CAR countries still depend heavily on Russia for their aviation needs. If
India wants to service Russian-origin aircraft there, Moscow’s explicit
approval is a must and that’s not guaranteed. Added to this is China’s strong
foothold through its Belt and Road Initiative, offering low-cost, ready-made
infrastructure leading to India facing a highly competitive landscape.
The
economics aren’t straightforward either. CAR countries don’t operate large
fleets, so setting up costly MRO facilities might not be financially viable.
Even if we think of trying it the logistics are tricky considering the fact
that the CAR nations are landlocked. Besides, although projects like the
Chabahar Port and the INSTC corridor are promising, they’ve not yet transformed
into being the seamless supply chains.
The
suggestion to bring Indian start-ups into the mix is one of the most preferred
ideas. But before that can happen, the OFs would need serious internal
modernisation, more innovativeness and certainly less red tape. This apart,
India also has its own military aviation needs also that need to be met first.
In the short term, a more realistic step might be to train CAR aviation
personnel in India’s well-established training institutions, rather than
building facilities in the CAR from scratch.
However,
notwithstanding the above, India’s Soviet-era equipment familiarity and the
role of its soft power in foreign policy towards CAR, India could leverage
these genuine strengths. But we need to realistically estimate as to what all
institutional reforms, investments by the government & the private sector
and sustained diplomacy would be required to turn these ideas into a
functioning project on the ground.
We
can say that, the vision of expanding the OFs footprint in the aviation
maintenance sector looks appealing and aligns with India’s strategic ambitions.
But right now, it’s more of a long-term aspiration than an immediate
possibility. Perhaps a phased approach of boosting the domestic capacity first,
followed by signing of the targeted aviation agreements, starting the training
programmes and then moving into Public-Private joint ventures would be far more
realistic.
However, looking at
it holistically, we find that through jointness of the OFs and Private Sector, a
mix of institutional reforms, targeted partnerships with the emerging start-ups
and diplomatic support, India seems to enjoy bright prospects of laying the
groundwork for gradual engagement of the OFs in Aviation Maintenance domain in
the CAR. The realisation of this ambitious vision seems viable, provided the
Indian Ordnance factories are willing to practically redesign the shape with
enabling modalities of its industrial base operating internationally, the
required functional and attitudinal agility and an ability to live upto the
trust reposed in them by the nation to deliver productively.
1[i] “India emerges as Armenia’s top arms supplier: 43% of imports
from 2022-2024, says SIPRI”, April 21, 2025, https://idrw.org/india-emerges-as-armenias-top-arms-supplier-43-of-imports-from-2022-2024-says-sipri/, Accessed on April 26, 2025
2 Raghav Patel, “Kanpur Ordnance Factory Begins Production of Tejas
Mk1A Ejection Parachutes, Ending Reliance on Foreign Suppliers”, Defence.in,
January 27, 2025, https://defence.in/threads/kanpur-ordnance-factory-begins-production-of-tejas-mk1a-ejection-parachutes-ending-reliance-on-foreign-suppliers.12546/, Accessed on April 26, 2025
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