Saab-HAL JV to go on stream in 6 months

Saab AB’s joint venture with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to manufacture airborne electronic warfare systems in Bangalore will commence production in six months from now, the Swedish defence aircraft manufacturer said today. 

It was in February this year that the Stockholm-headquartered company announced its JV plan. Today, Saab India Technologies managing director Inderjit Sial said the two firms were currently working out the business plan, including financial details. “The business plan will be ready by this December,” he told Business Standard. 

Electronic warfare systems (supplied by Saab) are being used in HAL’s advanced light helicopter–Dhruv. Saab, which will hold a minority stake of 26 per cent in the JV (according to the foreign investment regulations), intends to close down its manufacturing unit in South Africa once its venture with HAL takes shape. 

“There is a global demand for electronic warfare systems. It (JV) is not just for the Indian market but for the global market,” Sial said. “We will look at exporting the systems from Bangalore based on the demand generating from various countries,” he added, but refused to comment further. 

Saab president and chief executive Haken Buskhe, speaking on the company’s strategies for India after it met with a dead end in India for its single-engine fighter jet Gripen in Indian Air Force’s medium multirole combat aircraft competition, said the 1937-founded company was looking at selling its Saab 2000 MPA aircraft to the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guards. 

India had, in end-April this year, scrapped Saab’s Gripen from its fighter jet shortlist -- in a drive to modernise its armed forces. 

Bushke today said the 2000 MPA aircraft could be used for pipeline protection and for anti-terrorism surveillance. “We have a good product in 2000 MPA and we are trying to strike a good offer here,” he added. 

Saab opens tech centre with Mahindra Satyam

An agreement that Mahindra Satyam signed with defence aircraft maker Saab eight months ago turned into a legal-binding contract today, when the IT consulting and IT services company announced the inauguration of the Saab India Technology Centre in Hyderabad.

The pact was signed in February during the Aero India 2011 in Bangalore.

Today, Mahindra Satyam chief executive C P Gurnani said an initial base of 100 skilled Indian engineers to be inducted by the close of 2012 will form the backbone of the centre. “The SITC is expected to increase its headcount to at least 300 over the next three years,” he told mediapersons here.