BENGALURU: Global major Thales Group, which will provide equipment and systems that account for 25 per cent of the total value of each Rafale combat jet ordered by the Indian Air Force (IAF), commenced an initiative during Aero India 2017 to build new partnerships with local firms to roll out missiles, rockets, radars and military equipment for the domestic and global markets.
“Thales remains enthusiastic about India as it provides enormous opportunities across the markets in which the company operates. We are in discussion with a number of Indian companies to put in place Transfer of Technology, and this air show in itself is an opportunity to network with all key stakeholders. Thales has been present in this country for more than 60 years, started in 1953. Thales’ state-of-the-art equipment and systems for air, ground and naval combat continue to serve the critical needs of all three branches of the Indian armed forces. Going forward, Thales will continue to work towards its overall goal of ‘Make in India and export from India’ by building collaborations with the Indian industry, Ms Pascale Sourisse, Senior Executive Vice President (International Development), Thales, told Deccan Chronicle.
For the Rs 60,000-crore Rafale contract, Thales will supply the active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars, Spectra electronic warfare systems, communication navigation and identification systems (CNI), majority of the cockpit display systems, power generation systems and a logistics support component.
“For the existing Rafale contract we basically would involve Indian companies as sub-contractors and in addition we will have a look at transferring technologies that could lead to manufacturing products in India for potential future Rafale orders,” she added.
She said, “We are in talks with Reliance, our JV partners BEL and SAMTEL, HAL, DRDO and of course the supply chain partners with whom we have worked for five years for the Mirage 2000 mid-life upgrade programme. Our teams are working on potential agreements in order to fulfill our commitments. The air show is very important for us as we had discussions with heads of many Indian companies.”
At Aero India, Thales had some of its high-end capabilities such as rocket systems, air mission systems, communication systems, along with a display of state-of-the-art equipment onboard the Rafale and focused on new innovations such as Stratobus, an autonomous stratospheric airship that could be positioned at an altitude of 20 km over its theatre of operations and perform a variety of missions including surveillance of borders or high-value sites, on land or at sea, security, environmental monitoring and telecommunications, new broadband tactical software-defined radio SYNAPS and C4I systems, Spy’Ranger, a mini surveillance and reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.
