The BL Interview. IAI keen to collaborate with more Indian firms

State-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is gearing up to take its recent defence contracts to the next level in India, and is keen to ink joint ventures with Indian firms, in which local companies will own 51 per cent controlling interest.

In May, IAI, Israel’s prime aerospace and aviation manufacturer, was awarded an additional $630-million contract for the supply of Barak-8 Long-Range Surface-to-Air Missile System (LRSAM) for four ships of the Indian Navy, after an earlier $2-billion deal for the supply of advanced Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missiles (MRSAM) and missile defence systems to the Army.

Shalom Revivo, Executive Director, International Sales and Marketing, IAI, told BusinessLine how the contracts reinforce IAI’s global leadership position with regards to air and missile systems, and how the firm is looking forward to establishing local companies in India that will compete in defence tenders over the coming years. Edited excerpts:

IAI has been awarded its largest defence contract of almost $2 billion for supplying advanced MRSAM to India. Have you as yet identified an Indian partner to handle the offset programme?

The MRSAM/LRSAM projects are co-development programmes in collaboration between IAI and the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation). There is an agreed work share that we are doing together with the DRDO and other Indian partners, amounting to hundreds of million dollars. IAI will also be doing several other programmes with our supply chain partners in India.

Could you elaborate on the Indian tie-ups for the the $630-million LRSAM?

LRSAM is an advanced air and missile defence system, a unique joint development by IAI and DRDO in collaboration with IAI subsidiary ELTA Systems, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, and various Indian companies including Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Larsen and Toubro, Bharat Dynamics and several private Indian companies. The contract, to be executed with the Navy, will be carried out, for the first time, with the Indian government company BEL, which serves as the main contractor in the project.

The system comprises an advanced phased-array radar (MF-STAR), a command and control system, launchers and missiles, and provides protection against a variety of aerial, naval and airborne threats. It is operational with the Indian Air Force, the Indian Navy and the Israel defence forces, and in the near future with the Indian Army. Prior to signing the contract, the system was successfully tested aboard a Indian Navy ship, demonstrating its operational capabilities in a representative scenario with genuine target. All components of the weapon system successfully met the goals set to them.

IAI has been working with Indian defence industries and the armed forces for the past 25 years, as part of strategic collaboration in a variety of fields. The company is engaged in collaborations with many local companies and works with the defence agencies, the Coast Guard, Navy, Air Force and Army. Our joint-development projects include the Barak-8 air defence system in its maritime and land-based versions, mission aircrafts, various radar systems and UAVs. All the collaboration agreements are based on the transfer of technology for the benefit of local production as part of the Indian government’s Make in India policy.

We are expected to expand collaboration with local leading companies in order to integrate strategic state-of-the-art systems for India’s Ministry of Defence in various fields, and in accordance with the Make in India policy.

Recently, we signed three MoUs and agreements with Indian companies such as Wipro, Kalyani and Dynamatic Technologies and Elcome. These agreements are in continuance to the ones we signed in Aero India this year with Dynamatic, Bharat Forge, HAL, and Taneja Aerospace and Aviation.

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