Waiting for green signal from Indian for naval air defence missile: MBDA

European missile major MBDA on Thursday said that it is waiting for the green light from India's Defence Ministry to finalise its negotiation with the DRDO on naval air defence missile.

"SR-SAM is at very final stage, we have addressed all the topics linked to design, work share, future production, content of technology transfer (ToT)... all this has been discussed with customer, DRDO and BDL," Loic Piedevache, country head, India, MBDA group, said on the sidelines of the MBDA organised workshop on missile technologies for Indian armed forces.

"Now we need final green light from MoD to finalise our discussion and negotiation with DRDO," he added.

Defence Research and Development Organisation is the lead organisation for the design and development of the Short Range Surface to Air Missiles (SR-SAM) for the Indian Navy, while Bharat Dynamics Ltd is the ministry's missile production enterprise.

On the partnership arrangement for the under-development missile, Loic said: "It is a partnership. DRDO is the designer of the complete system, BDL is the production agency and MBDA is a strategic partner bringing its expertise and ToT of crucial items of the SR-SAM."

On how quickly the missile can be delivered, he said: "First deliveries will start in three years after signing the contract and all the deliveries will be completed within five years."

With the MBDA having designed the missile for range longer than the required range of 15 kms, Loic, giving the rationale, said: "We realised that when SR-SAM will be manufactured in India, it will be an Indian missile and there is a very strong export potential.

"So, taking into consideration the operational requirements and export potential because there is no such missile today in the market. The design has been done to go for higher range of 40 plus km."

SR-SAM is very crucial for defence of ship at high sea against the anti-ship missiles and aircraft.

--IANS

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