US firm to provide maintenance for weapons on board Navy ship

PARIS: US Defence firm Raytheon has signed an agreement with India's Elcom Marine Company to provide spare support for the maintenance of Phalanx close-in weapon system on board Indian Navy's INS Jalashwa amphibious warship.

"We have signed an agreement with Elcom Marine to provide them the spares and other systems with which they can support the two Phalanx systems on the INS Jalashwa," Raytheon Vice President Denny Carroll said during the Paris Air show.

India had procured the INS Jalashwa (formerly known as USS Trenton) from the US in 2007 for around $50 million and the ship has two Phalanx systems on it along with six helicopters.

Raytheon is also close to signing another agreement with Elcom which will help the company to do the annual maintenance of the close-in weapon system for the Indian Navy.

Carroll said that Raytheon has also offered to upgrade the two systems of the Navy with the latest configuration.

"We have already offered to upgrade the systems on board the Jalashwa to Phalanx 1B configuration, which is the latest version of the system," he informed.

He added that Raytheon is ready to offer the system for other ships of Indian Navy also. The weapon system on board the ship protects it against the threat from incoming missiles and other airborne threats.

Raytheon has signed 13 different MoUs with various Indian companies, including Tata Advance Systems Ltd, to expand its presence in the country's defence market.