Ajay Kumar Shrivastava Takes Charge as Director Engineering and R and D at HAL

Shri Ajay Kumar Shrivastava has taken on the role of Director (Engineering and Research & Development) at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) starting July 15, 2025. He is currently the Executive Director of the company. His appointment will last until he retires on November 30, 2026, or until further notice.

 

With this change, Dr. D K Sunil, the Chairman and Managing Director of the company, has stepped down to take on the additional role of Director (Engineering and Research & Development).

 

 

Ajay Kumar Shrivastava graduated in Electronics Engineering from HBTI Kanpur and holds a master’s degree in Aviation Safety and Aircraft Airworthiness from ENAC/ENSICA in Toulouse, France.

 

He is also a certified Project Management Professional. He began his career at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) as a Management Trainee (Technical) in July 1988 in Hyderabad.

 

He has 37 years of experience in the design, development, and certification of trainer, fighter, and transport aircraft as well as rotorcraft.

 

Initially, he worked on aircraft navigation and communication systems, weather radars, transponders, recorders, and aircraft collision avoidance systems.

 

Later, he focused on developing modifications for integrating other major avionics equipment and sensors. His work included maritime patrol radar, electro-optics and infrared systems, side-looking airborne radar, IR/UV sensors, electronic surveillance measures, satellite communication systems, and deployable SSCVR/FDR systems.

 

He played a key role in upgrading the avionics for the entire HS-748 fleet of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

 

 

He also led projects for upgrading the avionics of the Do-228 for the Indian Coast Guard, IAF, Indian Navy’s Sea-king helicopters, and IL-78 aircraft.

 

As the head of the Transport Aircraft Research and Design Centre (TARDC) in Kanpur, he oversaw DGCA certification for two civil HAL Do-228 aircraft.

 

Under his leadership, HAL's Transport Aircraft Division in Kanpur successfully indigenized several critical aircraft components, in line with the goals of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

 

During his time as Head of the Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC), he achieved RMTC-RSD certification for the HTT-40 trainer aircraft. He also completed the avionics upgrade of the HJT-36, which was successfully demonstrated at Aero India 2025.