European aerospace industry exploring tie-ups with India

Chennai: The European aerospace industry is exploring a slew of partnerships with Indian industry in the areas of civil and military aircraft manufacturing, Martin Kraus, vice- president (Defence Electronics), EADS Defence and Security, the Munich-based holding company of Airbus said here on Friday.
A combination of tough competition, cost pressures and high oil prices in the civil aviation sector and shrinking Defence budgets in European nations and relaxation of export regulations could see a new ballgame emerging in aircraft development partnerships with India, Mr. Kaus told The Hindu on the sidelines of the “Connect 2008”.
“Our defence strategy is very much to build cooperation with India and facilitate manufacturing tie-ups with engineering companies here,” said Mr. Kraus.
Discussions were in progress on this front with potential partners in industry as well as top officials in Delhi, he said.
The agreements could essentially span specialised areas such as structural design such as airframes, sub-assembly of aircraft, software engineering and testing. The scope of collaboration could also involve development of early warning air-borne systems and multi-role combat aircraft.
13/09/08 Dinesh Varma/The Hindu

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Categories: Foreign Sep 2008, Indian Aviation- In General Sep 2008