Push for Make in India: Airbus & Mahindra to jointly manufacture military helicopters

MUMBAI: Airbus Helicopters and Mahindra Defence, a Mahindra Group subsidiary, on Friday announced a plan to produce helicopters to cater to India's military requirements.

The joint venture will be set up in the coming months, a statement by the two companies said.

"The tie-up is in line with our intent to develop an indigenous industrial ecosystem dedicated to helicopters," Guillaume Faury, Airbus Helicopters' president and CEO said in the statement, announcing the memorandum of understanding.

The two companies will now get into discussions to finalise the formation of the joint venture which, once set up, will act as the prime contractor for India's military helicopter tenders including the Reconnaissance and Surveillance Helicopter, the Naval Utility Helicopter and the Naval Multirole Helicopter procurement programmes.

Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra group, in an interview to Bloomberg TV, soon after signing a supply agreement with Airbus Group SE, had termed it as just the "tip of the iceberg".

The Mahindra group, India's leading utility vehicle and tractor maker through Mahindra Aerospace makes utility aircraft business, based in Australia, and currently produces the Airvan 8, a turbo-prop aircraft.

It is in the process of making Airvan 10, a turbo prop aircraft, which is scheduled for certification later this year. "The joint venture will be dedicated to supplying the Indian armed forces with Made-in-India, state-of-theart helicopters of high reliability, quality and safety standard based on combat-proven platforms," Faury said.

In an interaction over phone, SP Shukla, group president-aerospace and defence sector chairman, Mahindra Defence Systems Limited, said, "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."