Airbus and Mahindra to make military choppers in India

The companies did not spell out how much they would invest under the deal


July 04, 2015
PHOTO: INDIAN EXPRESS

European aerospace giant Airbus and India's Mahindra group have inked a deal to jointly build helicopters as the Indian government moves to upgrade the country's ageing military hardware, the companies said.

The joint venture will be set up in the coming months, "aiming to become the first private manufacturer of helicopters in India", the companies said in a statement late Friday.

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"The joint venture will be dedicated to supplying the Indian armed forces with Made-in-India, state-of-the-art helicopters of high reliability, quality and safety standard based on combat-proven platforms," Guillaume Faury, president and CEO of Airbus Helicopters, said in the statement.

India is in the midst of a vast defence modernisation programme worth some $100 billion, partly to keep up with rival neighbours Pakistan and China.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing government, which stormed to power last May, has approved a string of contracts for new military hardware that had stalled under the previous left-leaning Congress party.

Modi, a hardline nationalist, also wants to end India's status as the world's number one defence importer and to have 70 percent of hardware manufactured domestically by the turn of the decade.

Last August, his government lifted the cap on foreign investment in defence to 49 percent from 26 percent.

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The Airbus-Mahindra joint venture will place bids for reconnaissance and surveillance choppers, naval utility and naval multirole helicopters.

"Together, we will produce India's next-generation helicopters that will not only answer our country's defence needs but will also have the potential for exports in the future," said S.P. Shukla, chairman of Mahindra Defence Systems.

The companies did not spell out how much they would invest under the deal.

COMMENTS (13)

ziddi | 8 years ago | Reply @Bobb mack: Your remarks are spiteful and insufficient in substance.In short India’s Mars mission which has a price tag of about $74 million, a fraction of the $671 million cost of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s latest Mars program would suffice to prove the India;s indigenous technological developments.India is among the topmost countries in the world in the field of scientific research and has positioned itself as among the top five nations in the field of space exploration. It has been regularly undertaking space missions to the moon and the famed Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C26, successfully launched IRNSS-1C, the third satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), on October 16, 2014, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. This is the twenty seventh consecutively successful mission of PSLV.No hard feelings but please update yourself as you have greater access to information.
JSM | 8 years ago | Reply @Bobb mack: What make you feel India is comparing and competing with Pakistan We have left the behind It is a verifiable fact. WE are only competing with ourselves.
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