By IANS,
New Delhi : British aircraft major BAE Systems has won a $91 million deal to supply spares and ground support equipment to the Indian Air Force (IAF) and state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Hawk advanced jet trainers that are being built in this country.
BAE Systems said Monday the deal took the total value of Hawk-related contracts won by the company in India to more than $900 million in the last one-and-half years.
“Reinforcing BAE Systems’ strong relationship with the IAF and HAL, the company has recently secured a £59 million ($91 million) contract for the provision of spares and ground support equipment to aid the Hawk training aircraft operations. This brings the total value of Hawk-related contracts won in India to more than £600 million ($900 million) in the last 18 months,” a company statement said.
Under a 2004 deal worth $1.5 billion, India had signed a contract with the BAE Systems for 66 Hawks, of which 42 are being built under licence by HAL with material, parts and support services provided by the British firm.
India is buying 78 more of Hawks, of which 17 will go to the Indian Navy and 21 will form the IAF’s aerobatics team.
“The IAF has one of the largest fleets of Hawks anywhere in the world, and this contract is vital to ensure the continued availability of the fleet. This new order strengthens the robust production platform established by our partner HAL for the aircraft, which remains the benchmark advanced jet trainer in service today,” BAE Systems’ Group Managing Director (International) Guy Griffiths said in the statement.
BAE Systems’ joint venture with Mahindra and Mahindra’s Defence Land Systems India (DLSI) has begun delivery of a small but strategically important order from the police in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand for the company’s mine protected vehicle.
The vehicle is manufactured by the joint venture using technologies and skills transferred by BAE Systems South Africa.
BAE Systems has since 2009 been developing India as one of its five home markets, in addition to Australia, Saudi Arabia, Britain and the United States.
Today, BAE Systems India has nearly 100 employees. In addition, the company’s two joint ventures, DLSI and BAeHAL, a software engineering joint venture with HAL, together employ over 500 people.