ITT Defense International Office Taps Indian Business

Aerospace Diary & Defense Report
April13,2010

BUSINESS

NEW DELHHI — ITT Defense International is focusing its efforts on the Indian market with the opening of an office here April 9.
“We are very excited,” said Lt. Gen. (ret.) David Melcher, president of ITT Defense & Information Solutions. “India is the largest [growing] market in the world. ITT can be a great partner in that.”
While ITT is advocating its Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) system to India’s ministry of civil aviation, in the defense arena the company expects its night vision devices to attract interest.
The Indian Army Aviation Corps has released a Request for Information for night-vision goggles capable of “operating in low ambient light conditions” for helicopter
pilots.
ITT partners for the project, if approved, would be government- owned Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and an ordnance factory. The tubes would be provided by ITT, while BEL would provide the power optics.
Technical specifications in the RFI include the number of image intensification tubes, weight, field of view, system resolution and magnification.
ITT is confident in the performance of its image intensifier tube — the heart of every night vision product — which it claims is rugged and combat-proven and a good match for fixed- and rotary-wing aviators and ground forces.
The company’s Enhanced Night Vision Goggle (ENVG) is the first night vision goggle to provide fusion (via optical overlay) of image intensified and infrared imagery. Aerospace DAILY has learned that BEL has asked ITT for 33,000 tubes. ITT has meanwhile applied for a Technical Assistance Agreement (TAA) from the U.S.
“We’re bound and obligated by what we can transfer by International Traffic in Arms Regulations [ITAR],” Melcher said. “Night vision technology is well protected, which is why we are looking at other ways.”
ITT provides the electronic warfare suite and weapon release system on the F/A-18E/F, which is in the running for India’s 126-aircraft fighter program.
As the world’s largest provider of military VHF radios and Advanced Tactical Communications Systems (ATCS), the company is promoting Spearnet in India. Spearnet offers simultaneous voice, data and situational awareness in a low-cost multimission, multirole radio. The system has been used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We are also evaluating the option to participate in R&D activity on a project-to-project basis,” Melcher says.
- Neelam Mathews (mathews.neelam@gmail.com)