Focus on Make in India
MBDA is further strengthening its five decade of services to India with a renewed focus on the ‘Make in India’ programme by offering its latest technologies for integration.
Giving an overview of the group’s India programme, MBDA spokesman Nick de Larrinaga said ATGM5 will be among IDDM products with latest technologies such as data linking, network capable warfare, selective effect war heads, operator over the loop and control.
“We want to make it an Indian Designed, Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) system,” said de Larrinaga at the DefExpo 2020 held in Lucknow 5-8 Feb 2020.
He underlined 50 years of relationships of close cooperation and partnerships with Indian enterprises both with the Defence Public Sector Undertakings and private corporations.
For 2020, MBDA is focused on ‘Make in India’, an initiative to build an indigenous defence industry in collaborations with international technologies and expertise.
Having started in 1970 with Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL), MBDA had the first-generation anti-tank missiles SS11-B1 made in India 50 years ago.
That success was followed by second generation anti-tank missile, Milan, which now has been upgraded to Milan 2T, of which 40,000 have been made in India. “Today, Milan is still made (in India),” he stressed.
Elaborating, de Larrinaga said MBDA’s Indian network with companies continue to grow and grow, an example of which is the joint venture with Larsen & Toubro. L&T MBDA Missiles Ltd, a heavyweight joint venture, was was formed in 2017 and is among the lead bidders for armed forces programmes.
The JV is also building large components and assembles parts of key missile systems already on order from the Indian Air Force. These include MICA, an air-to-air missile, ordered for the Mirage 2000 aircraft and for Rafale aircraft which arrives in India in the coming months to boost the capabilities of Indian Air Force.
Rafale will be fitted with the weapon package of MBDA with revolutionary capabilities. First is Meteor, a long-range air-to-air missile. This unique weapon is the world’s only missile powered by Ramjet technology with speed of over Mach 4 or more than four times the speed of sound. MBDA’s other key weapon systems for India include SCALP, a long-range weapon from air to ground stealthy missile.
Furthermore, the JV has announced a new manufacturing facility in Coimbatore in the South Indian Defence Corridor under ‘Make in India’ for both the domestic and export markets.
These plans are in line with three new programmes of the Defence Ministry services. The first is ATGM5, which is currently at the ‘request for information’ (RFI) stage,
Also at the RFI stage is the medium range anti-ship missile (MRAShM) programme, for which L&T MBDA Missiles Ltd is offering the new Exocet MM40 Block 3.
The JV has also responded to RFP in January 2020 for the short-range surface to air missile (SRSAM). The JV’s offer is of Sea Septor, a brand new system with advanced technologies which will significantly outperform other air defence systems on the global market in this category.
It is software-based vertically-launch missile which fits on a wide range of ships, even small vessels, and aims for targets at very short range and in the local area, explained de Larrinaga.
MBDA as a global defence and security organization has more than 40 products. fiinews.com
