Home grown avionics player Samtel tying up with South Korean firm for missile electronics

NEW DELHI: Home grown avionics manufacturer Samtel is tying up with a leading South Korean defence company to manufacture a range of missile electronics in India, targeting to make critical parts for missiles, laser guided bombs and electronic warfare systems domestically.

A teaming agreement has been signed between Samtel and Hanwha Systems, South Korea that will make high technology products like seekers and other electronics components in India.

"The new partnership is announced to bring in synergies of both the companies for Guided Missile, EOIR, RADAR, and Laser Guided Bomb (LGB)," Puneet Kaura, MD and CEO, Samtel Avionics says.

The partnership seeks big business in India, with the cost of electronics in each missile system going into 'multi millions of dollars'. "We are getting our partners to the Aero India show and will meet potential customers there. The tie up has huge potential and technology transfer scope for India,” Kaura says.

Hanwha Systems specializes in naval and air Command, Control, Communication, Computer and Intelligence (C4I), guided weapons, Electronic Warfare (EW) and future combat systems. "We would like to contribute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Make in India. Partnership with Samtel is the first step towards that. We hope that this partnership will help us establish our presence in India," Chang Si Kweon, CEO, Hanwha Systems says.

Samtel Avionics (SA) is a top Indian player in avionics and has several running orders with the armed forces. It is also expected to get a significant part of the offset obligations for the Rafale fighter jet deal as well.