Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews Feb 4, 2014 Lets face it. FICCI must be doing a good job, having tapped a sizeable number of exhibitors to DefExpo despite the current doom and gloom in the Indian economy. Looking at the layout of the expo, I am a bit confused to see it so cramped-then realise there's another show on at the same time. The  India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), one fears, is living in a 1920s mindset- make hay while the sun shines. Well its getting kind of chilly now. Pragati Maidan is dated and cramped. Like to hear it or not, its hey days are over. And to have a defense show with complicated machines that have to be dismantled before being brought in, is a logistics nightmare. This is certainly not a way to encourage international and domestic participants.  The conference room, too is a shame- bad acoustics, no facility for wi-fi-which the world over is provided free- the list can go on. But its the Year of the Monkey and time to start coping with intricacies a...

Neelam Mathews March 29, 2012 Aerospace Diary has learnt there may be an announcement at Defexpo of Selex Galileo entering into a JV with Data Patterns. The JV will be the primary vehicle for bids moving forward, a government source told Aerospace Diary. The Indian market provides a huge opportunity for Selex Galileo and the Company aims to build on its existing footprint in-country, says an official. At Defexpo, the company is showcasing its technologies including the AESA radar, Electronic Warfare and UAS that can support India's emerging operational. Data Patterns focuses on building reliable open architecture building blocks on various internationally accepted standards such as cPCI, VME, PCI and other Mezzanine standards such as IP, M Module, and PMC. These building blocks are further utilized in order to provide functional solutions in the areas of automatic testing and data acquisition solutions.

Show Report Defense Technology International Apr 01 , 2010 , p. 44 Neelam Mathews New Delhi India’s defense needs draw industry to Defexpo Printed headline: Buyer’s Market India’s rapidly growing defense programs attracted a number of major global contractors to the biennial Def- expo land and naval exposition here in February. Many were looking to establish or firm up partnerships with local manufacturers to meet the offsets mandated for procurement awards by the defense ministry. Though eager for business, most contractors want the government to relax the cap on ownership levels that has been imposed on joint ventures. The current foreign direct investment (FDI) limit favors Indian companies on a 74-26% basis over foreign OEMs, a level that many contractors say provides no incentive for technology transfer. India’s Defense Procurement Procedure (DPP) mandates a 30% offsets clause for projects valued at more than $65 million. At present, only $43 million worth of offsets ...

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report March 10, 2010 Foreign suppliers are turning to joint ventures with Indian manufacturers as one way to satisfy the country’s technology offset requirements, but they want caps on ownership levels loosened. India has about $50 billion in procurement contracts identified for the near term, although so far negotiations are under way covering some $2 billion. Thus far, offset levels for them are just $43 million, but more are expected. Foreign suppliers can hardly ignore the requirements of India’s 2008 Defense Procurement Procedure act, which mandates a 30 percent offset for all procurement valued at more than $65 million. Not surprisingly, half of the 650 exhibitors at last month’s DefExpo conference in New Delhi were domestic suppliers eager to get a piece of India’s increasingly large defense pie by finding foreign partners to team with. Joint ventures is one strategy. But India’s reluctance to expand its caps on the amount of direct investme...

News Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Feb 17 , 2010 , p. 02 Neelam Mathews NEW DELHI — AgustaWestland and Tata Sons have signed a Shareholders Agreement for the formation of an Indian joint venture company to build a final assembly line in Hyderabad in South India for the AW119 helicopter. The agreement was signed here by Giuseppe Orsi, CEO of AgustaWestland, and Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons. The joint venture company will be responsible for AW119 final assembly, completion and delivery, while AgustaWestland will retain responsibility for worldwide marketing and sales. With an initial international order of 50-60 helicopters, the joint venture will roll out the first aircraft from its Indian plant in 2011. The plant will initially have the capacity to produce 30 helicopters annually. AgustaWestland, which also has a facility in Philadelphia, says it will continue looking for its facility in India to grow. “As the market grows, we will look at other models,” Graham Cole, managi...

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report January 20, 2009 NEW DELHI – ST Kinetics, the Land Systems arm of Singapore Technologies Engineering, is participating in numerous programs in India and says it is looking at itself as a capability-based company able to integrate all dimensions of lifecycle support. Rated by Moodys as AAA, it has bid for six Indian defense contracts, including a Request for Proposals (RFP) for 34,377 Compact Personal Weapons. Other tenders include 400 155mm towed howitzers, the trials for which are to be held at the end of February in Kargil, a district of Ladakh in Kashmir that lies near the Line of Control facing Pakistan-administered Kashmir and was the center of conflict in May 1999. The war was fought in high altitudes in mountainous terrain, posing severe logistical problems for both India and Pakistan. The Spider Light Strike Vehicle under technical evaluation is ready for shipment, says Patrick Choy, chief marketing officer for ST Kinetics. Its collapsible r...