Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews July 21, 2014 There are some things that are seriously wrong with our industry and one is surprised how they never get pointed out. I got this story by default. Thanks to social media, I got an SOS from a young man requesting help to be introduced to some MRO companies to keep him as an intern for 6 months which he is willing to do without a salary. Such is the structure of the curricula that without the training at a maintenance facility, he doesn't get a certificate. So far so good, but, now we get into murky waters. MROs at airports are not allowed to take on trainees unless they are hired as technicians "due to security issues." So the same person can enter the airport as a technician -literally forcing companies to fool with books- but not as a trainee as that makes him a security risk! Really! Why have such a course? Or even better, why not start to update it? We hope the new dynamic minister of education is listening. We are also hearing t...

Neelam Mathews May 2, 2012 With the Tatra-BEML deal under the scanner, the time has come to ask some questions. Who gave Tatra the order and resold at a higher price? Will the government consider blacklisting BEML? If this were to happen, would other defense PSUs shudder? Ofcourse, what about the most obvious candidate- OFB in the case of six companies blacklisted in March? "We need to introspect a bit here and be clear on our policy objectives,"  an official told Aerospace Diary. "We cannot have one rule for government-associated companies and the other for the rest of the world." In March , the Ministry of Defense blacklisted six firms- Singapore Technologies Kinetics Ltd. (STK), Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI), Rheinmetall Air Defence (RAD), Zurich, Corporation Defence, Russia (CDR), TS Kisan., New Delhi and  RK Machine Tools Ltd., Ludhiana - from further business dealings with the Ordnance Factory Board, Department of Defense Production, MoD, for ten ...