HAL and Russia’s UAC Sign MoU to Produce SJ-100 Regional Jet in India

India’s HAL and Russia’s UAC Forge Landmark Tie-Up to Produce SJ-100 Regional Jet on Indian Soil

Mohd Hanif Ismail - : Oct 29, 2025 - : 8:43 am

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In a move that signals a profound pivot in the Asia-Pacific civil aerospace landscape, India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) to co-produce the twin-engine narrow‐body regional jet SJ‑100 (formerly known as the “Superjet 100”) in India. According to reports, the agreement grants HAL manufacturing rights for the aircraft in India for domestic customers, marking the first time a complete passenger aircraft will be produced on Indian soil since the cessation of Al Avro HS-748 production in 1988.

The report first detailing the announcement noted that more than 200 SJ-100 aircraft have already been built and are operated by some 16 airlines internationally. Under the terms of the MoU, HAL emphasises the deal as a key step toward the Indian government’s “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India) vision in civil aviation. The pact underscores the intensifying competition in regional-jet manufacturing, traditionally dominated by Western aerospace players, and opens a pathway for India to emerge as both a producer-and-exporter of regional airframes within the region.

Background and Strategic Implications

The SJ-100 airframe is a five-abreast, twin-engine regional jet developed by Sukhoi/Irukt (now part of UAC) that typically accommodates around 87–108 passengers depending on configuration, with a range of up to approximately 4,578 km (~2,470 nmi) for the long-range variant. Its entry into serial production commenced in the early 2010s, and despite a number of operational and certification challenges, the platform has remained in limited production. In June 2023 the programme was re-branded as the SJ-100 to reflect its largely “Russified” components and import-substitution path.

For India, HAL has significant experience in licensed manufacture of Russian military aircraft (MiG-21, MiG-27, Su-30MKI) and now is making the leap into civil full-airframe production. On the demand side, the Indian aviation ministry estimates that over the next decade domestic short-haul connectivity will require more than 200 narrow‐body jets tailored for regional operations. The HAL / UAC MoU therefore aligns with two major strategic currents: India’s drive to build domestic aerospace industrial capability and the broader Asia-Pacific appetite for cost-efficient regional aircraft to serve tier-II and tier-III city routes.

Regional aviation markets in South and Southeast Asia remain under-penetrated, with many secondary cities lacking direct connectivity. An India-manufactured SJ-100—or derivative thereof—could become a contender for domestic operators in India, neighbouring South-Asian states and perhaps Southeast Asia, offering competition to models such as the ARJ21/C909 and smaller-narrow-body platforms from Western OEMs. Indeed, HAL’s local production offers potentially lower cost and more favourable support for regional operators in emerging markets.

However, aviation analysts caution that the regional-jet market in India remains small at present—only about a dozen regional jets currently operate in India, according to Cirium data. HAL and UAC will therefore need to secure both domestic customer commitments and regional export opportunities to justify production scale.