Tata arm is L1 bidder for Navy’s radar project

Nova Integrated Systems, a subsidiary of Tata Advanced Systems Ltd, has emerged the lowest bidder for the Surface Surveillance Radar (SSR) project of the Indian Navy.

TASL had participated in the indigenous radar procurement programme under the Indian defence procurement guidelines. However, competing companies in the Indian Navy’s tender have been questioning the low bid.

7 bidders

Seven domestic firms had participated in the June 2013 tender, including Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro and Bharat Electronics.

A total of 31 SSRs and one SSR training simulator are scheduled to be acquired at a cost of over $300 million. As part of the tender, Indian firms partnered with foreign companies to procure technology.

Sukaran Singh, Chief Executive Officer, TASL, said it would be the first private Indian company to undertake final and full assembly of the military radar, and that it was the first procurement by the Defence Ministry under the ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’ category of the Defence Procurement Procedure.

Strategic partnership

Pointing out that TASL is approaching its vision with a three-fold strategy participation in radar procurement programmes, Singh said the firm has strategic technology partnerships with leading global radar manufacturers and is establishing modern manufacturing and development facilities.

Danish defence major Terma has a strategic partnership with TASL.

Terma’s partnership with TASL developed further after jointly bidding for the SSR programme, as the company moved ahead in the area of Naval Combat Management Systems.

In partnership with TASL, Terma has established a development centre in Noida, for the design and development of Combat Management Systems.

Other collaborations

Denmark-based Terma is a leader in naval and coastal surveillance radars.

The partnership envisages full transfer of technology.

Terma also has a seven-year-old relationship with Bharat Electronics Limited, and is collaborating in various fields of defence technology.

BEL is the primary integrator and supplier of defence electronics to the armed forces.

BEL and Terma cooperate on naval radar technology and aircraft self-protection.

Singh added that Nova has partnered with Terma “to undertake manufacturing, integration and testing on Navy vessels of the proven Scanter radar system, under transfer of technology in India.” Incidentally, Thales Nederland, the Dutch arm of Thales International, and TASL have jointly proposed Smart-L radar, based on Active Electronically Scanned Array, for the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force.