Swedish defence firm Saab on Friday announced it has won a `1,900-crore order from India to supply self-protection systems for Dhruv, its indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter.
The order, worth Swedish Krona 216 million (US $33 million), was placed by Indian Defence Public Sector Undertaking for aerospace systems, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the company said in a statement here.
“Saab has received two orders from HAL for serial production of an integrated electronic warfare self-protection system for installation on the Indian Army’s and Air force’s Advanced Light Helicopter,” Saab’s Micael Johansson, Senior Vice President and Head of Saab’s business area Electronic Defence Systems, said.
Saab’s Integrated Defensive Aids Suite (IDAS) protects crew and aircraft and enhances the survivability in sophisticated, diverse and dense threat environments. The system provides a timely warning against different types of threats including radar, laser and missile approach warning, and automatically deploys appropriate countermeasures.
These orders follow initial serial production orders received in 2008 and further established Saab as a local partner to the Indian Industry and provider of high tech products and systems to the Indian armed forces, Saab’s Lars-Olof Lindgren, Head of Market Area Saab India, said.
Deliveries are scheduled to commence in 2014. Development and production of the IDAS system will take place at Saab in Centurion, South Africa (Saab Grintek Defence).
The system has been integrated on several airborne platforms such as the Saab-2000, Agusta-Westland A109, Super Lynx 300, Boeing CH-47 Chinook, Eurocopter Cougar, Puma and Super Puma.