Airbus Helicopters and Mahindra Defence, a part of Mahindra Group, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to form a joint venture to produce helicopters in India and jointly bid for defence contracts in India under the government's Make in India programme.
“We have an unparalleled track record of successful industrial collaborations with local partners across the world. We are convinced that with Mahindra we will not only have a mutually rewarding association but one which will offer immense benefits to India,” said Guillaume Faury, Airbus Helicopters President & CEO.
“The tie-up is in line with our intent to develop an indigenous industrial ecosystem dedicated to helicopters. 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 platform,” he said.
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Both companies would get into discussions to finalise the formation of the joint venture which would act as the prime contractor for India’s military helicopter tenders, including the reconnaissance and surveillance helicopter, the Naval utility helicopter and the Naval multi-role helicopter procurement programmes, Mahindra Defence said.
S. P. Shukla, Group President, Aerospace and Defence Sector and Chairman, Mahindra Defence Systems Limited, said, “We have extensive expertise in engineering, automotive and fixed-wing sectors and have made substantial investments in aero components manufacturing, while Airbus Helicopters offers best-in-class rotorcraft platforms.”
"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,” Mr. Shukla said.
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The proposed joint venture aims to become the first private Indian helicopter manufacturer under the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
“This will create hundreds of high-tech jobs locally and lead to a flow of cutting edge technologies to India should it be selected in the government helicopter tenders,” Mahindra Group said.