European airline giant Airbus Group seek local
partners to make military helicopters to comply with rules aimed at helping the
India’s defence industry.
Airbus Helicopters, part of Airbus Group said it is
in talks with Indian companies including Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance
Industries and the Tata Group to jointly make military helicopters in India.
The company is offering to build its light utility
AS550 Fennec and the medium lift EC725 for the armed forces, which are heavily
dependent on an ageing fleet of Cheetah and Chetak helicopters.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India”
initiative, foreign contractors used to selling directly to New Delhi must form
partnerships with local companies and transfer more of the work to help to
develop the country’s defence industry.
The government last year scrapped the planned
acquisition of 197 light utility helicopters so that it could launch a new
competition reserved for domestic companies that form joint ventures with
foreign suppliers.
In addition to Airbus, other firms including
US-based Sikorsky Aircraft and Russian Helicopters are also expected to bid for
the order.
“We are willing to partner with Indian companies to
supply light utility helicopters to the Indian military,” Goldie Srivastava,
spokesman for Sikorsky’s parent company United Technologies, said.
Srivastava also said the company would be interested
in participating in the bidding process for supplying 123 multi-role S-70B
Seahawk helicopters to the navy once the tender opens.
State-run Hindustan Aeronautics is the only Indian
company producing helicopters, meaning that global defence firms are likely to
have to partner with a private company building a product for the first time
and from scratch.
Airbus executive Farid said that was a concern. “It
is a tough task because you need to establish your vendors here which are not
as existent as in other countries,” he added. Foreign ownership in joint ventures in the defence industry is limited to 49%, but foreign companies say majority ownership would speed up India’s drive for its own manufacturing base and ensure quality.
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