MUMBAI: Europe’s Airbus Helicopters and Mahindra Defence have joined hands to manufacture helicopters in India to meet the country’s military requirements.
Both companies, however, didn’t disclose the quantum of investments involved in the proposed joint venture, which will be set up in the next couple of months.
This will be the third such joint venture among private players to produce helicopters in the country (see box).
The JV between Mahindra and Airbus is the first private Indian helicopter manufacturer under the ‘Make-in-India’ initiative.
As per estimates, the government is expected to spend $250 billion over the next decade to upgrade its armed forces. According to Airbus, the JV seeks to win orders for reconnaissance and surveillance, naval utility and naval multi-role helicopters.
“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,” said SP Shukla, chairman, Mahindra Defence Systems in a statement.
Airbus Helicopters is one of the biggest manufacturers of army helicopters in the world and some of the choppers it produces include H125M, H135M, H145M, AS565 MBe, AS532 ALe, H225M, Tiger and NH90.
“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 platforms,” said Guillaume Faury, Airbus Helicopters President & CEO.