Israel Aerospace Industries, Tata Group to establish JV for manufacture of defence products in India

Tel Aviv: Global defence and aerospace giant and leading Israeli company, Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd (IAI) has signed a framework agreement with a company of India's leading conglomerate, the Tata Group, to establish a joint venture company which will develop, manufacture, market and support the manufacture of defence products in India.

This framework agreement, signed by Itzhak Nissan, president and CEO, Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd (IAI) and Ratan N Tata, chairman, Tata Sons is a follow-up to the memorandum of agreement signed by both parties on 17 February in New Delhi in the course of the Defexpo 2008 show.

The cooperation agreement between IAI and Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. (TASL) covers a wide range of defence and aerospace products, including missiles, UAVs, radars, electronic warfare (EW) systems and home land security (HLS) systems.

An agreement for establishing a JV company in India will be signed between the parties shortly.  The company, apart from enhancing cooperation in various fields between both parties will also help establish local indigenous capabilities.

TASL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Industries and is focused on providing integrated solutions for defence and aerospace.

According to Itzhak Nissan, "This agreement reflects IAI's evolving relationship with India and with the Indian industries. India is a leading market for IAI, and partnerships with Indian industries are part of our long-term strategy. The JV company will further improve IAI's capability to best serve our Indian customers, and it will serve as a platform to develop new business opportunities.''  

A statement from Tata Advanced Systems said: ''This agreement between Tata and IAI is a significant part of our strategy to build capabilities in defence and we look forward to having the JV company become a leading Indian defence company in the future, supporting the needs of our nation's armed forces and defence labs. It is also gives both companies great pleasure that the establishment of this cooperative relationship coincides with the 60th anniversary celebrations of the state of Israel.'' 

Israel Aerospace Industries, Ltd. (IAI), formerly known as Israel Aircraft Industries, is the largest aerospace and defense company in Israel. It is Israel's largest industrial exporter and a globally recognized leader for the defence and aerospace markets.

IAI provides unique system-of-systems solutions for a broad spectrum of needs in space, air, land, sea and homeland defense, including: unmanned air vehicles (UAV), radars, mission aircraft, AEW, EW, ELINT/ESM, SIGINT and COMINT/COMJAM, aerial refueling, anti-tactical ballistic missiles (ATBM), missiles, smart weapons, satellites and launchers, navigation, upgrading of military aircraft and helicopters. 

IAI is also a leader in maintenance and conversion of commercial aircraft, as well as design, development and production of business jets and many other core technologies, products and services.

The Tata Group is one of India's largest and most respected business conglomerates, with revenues in 2006-07 of $28.8 billion (Rs129,994 crore), the equivalent of about 3.2 per cent of the country's GDP, and a market capitalization of $65 billion (as on 8 February 2008).