AeroIndia 2009: EADS seeks long-term deals with India

14 February 2009

On behalf of the Eurofighter consortium which it leads, Germany's EADS has proposed to establish a long-term strategic partnership with Indian aerospace and defence companies. Bernhard Gerwert, chief executive officer of military air systems - an integrated business unit of EADS Defence & Security - said, "We have a strong interest to create a long-lasting strategic partnership with Indian aerospace and defence companies, and we are committed to bring our capabilities, skills and technologies into this win-win-partnership."

Speaking at a press conference in Bangalore during the AeroIndia 2009 air show, Gerwert said, "India is our partner of choice and therefore we invite India to join the Eurofighter Typhoon programme as a partner. We are ready to listen and to learn from our Indian customers and industrial partners."

A Eurofighter Typhoon bid proposal and a comprehensive offset offer were submitted to the Indian authorities in 2008. Since then, 25 Memoranda of Understandings (MoUs) have been signed to enhance the cooperation with India's aerospace and defence industry. The Eurofighter Typhoon partner companies are confident of fulfilling the 50 per cent offset obligation of the request for proposal (RFP), and will offer India access to an international sourcing network of "unparalleled" scope.

The production of the Eurofighter Typhoon will create thousands of new jobs in India, according to EADS. The leading-edge combat aircraft has a tremendous built-in growth potential and therefore the Eurofighter partner companies can offer India new opportunities for cooperation in design, development and manufacturing.

Gerwert said, "We are ready to provide our operational, support, engineering and development capabilities to the Indian aerospace and defence sector, which is growing fast, and we want to grow together with this dynamic development."

Leading the Eurofighter campaign in India, EADS is currently preparing for the flight trials of the medium multi role combat aircraft (MMRCA) competition. The flight trials are expected in 2009 after a short-listing of the bidders, and intensive preparations are on.