National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) is India's second largest aerospace firm after Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). It was established by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) at Delhi in 1959 and the headquarter was moved to Bangalore in 1960. The firm closely operates with HAL, DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization) and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) and has the prime responsibility of developing civilian aircraft in India. The CSIR-NAL mandate is to develop aerospace technologies with strong science content, design and build small and medium-sized civil aircraft, and support all national aerospace programmes.
NAL Hansa
The Hansa ("Swan") was designed under the NALLA (NAL Light Aircraft) Project. Three designs were produced and the second-design (Hansa-2) was built as a prototype which first flew on 23 November 1993. The second prototype was based on the third design (Hansa-3) and this was the design selected for production.
The Hansa received a provisional type certificate from the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aircraft) in December 1998 and a full certificate in December 1998.
NAL Hansa-2, registration VT-XIW, built 1993, serial number 001 HAL Aerospace Museum, Bangalore, India, 12 May 2018
