India’s Tata Advanced Systems has entered into a contract with U.S.-based Bell Helicopters to potentially make and assemble naval choppers, as Indian companies rush to expand their defense business after the south Asian nation began encouraging private participation in the sector.
By Baishakhi Dutta
India is banking on foreign investments and privatization to reduce the country’s dependence on military imports in a bid to turn the world’s biggest buyer of arms into a manufacturing hub.
The government, which has made defense a major part of its “Make in India” program, is seeking foreign tie-ups and transfer of technology.
As part of the latest deal, Tata Advanced Systems, a unit of the $109 billion Tata Group, and Bell Helicopter, a unit of New York-listed aircraft and rotorcraft maker Textron, will jointly develop commercial and military rotary wing markets in India, the companies said in a joint statement.
The deal also includes potential production and assembly, training and maintenance, repair and overhaul, as well as research and development programs and technology-sharing.
A slew of India’s top companies, including Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, the Tata group and Mahindra & Mahindra have entered the defence space in recent years. Tata Advanced Systems has previously had partnerships with a number of foreign defense manufacturing companies, including, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Rolls-Royce.
Tata’s latest deal comes barely two days after European plane maker Airbus Group’s helicopter division awarded a contract to India’s Mahindra Aerostructures to make air frame parts for its Panther military chopper series.
The parts will be shipped directly to the Airbus helicopter production line in France, where they will be integrated with the rest of the air frame assembly, and will form a critical part of the Panthers sold worldwide, Mahindra said in a statement Tuesday.
Last year, the two companies had formed a joint venture to bid for India’s military helicopter program.
