Make in India push: Airbus ties up with Mahindra Defence to build military choppers in India

Airbus Helicopters will join hands with Mahindra Defence to produce helicopters in India in order to meet the country’s military requirements. The joint venture aims to become the first private Indian helicopter manufacturer under the ‘Make in India’ initiative. “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. The press release did not say how much the two will invest. Under current rules, foreign ownership in joint ventures in India’s defence industry is limited to 49%. [caption id=“attachment_2325786” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Image: Airbus Helicopter website[/caption] The joint venture will seek to win orders for reconnaissance and surveillance, naval utility and naval multirole helicopters, Airbus said. Airbus Helicopters is one of the biggest manufacturers of army helicopters in the world and some of the choopers it produces include H125M, H135M H145M, AS565 MBe, AS532 ALe, H225M, Tiger and NH90. Airbus Helicopters, part of Airbus Group, is joining forces with Mahindra after talking to several local companies that are investing crores to capitalise on the government’s push to build arms at home. Other companies in the running for the joint venture included Reliance Industries and Tata Group. India is in the midst of a huge upgrade of its armed forces — analysts forecast it will spend $250 billion over the next decade — and Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to encourage more indigenous manufacturing to end India’s position as the world’s largest arms importer. “The tie-up is in line with our intent to develop an indigenous industrial ecosystem for 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 platforms,” said Guillaume Faury, Airbus Helicopters President & CEO.