Rockwell Collins to set up engineering centre at Hyd

Expects to spend $20 million a year on the facility.

US-based Rockwell Collins Inc is planning to set up its first engineering centre outside the US in Hyderabad for the development of embedded solutions in display and flight management applications to start with in October, this year.

The $4.5-billion company specialises in avionic electronics, communication and defence solutions.

The company plans to create a 500-strong team of engineering professionals in five years, that would begin with 20 people initially.

The centre would be part of an IP-based collaborative product development programme, which is being carried out by the company's R&D facilities in the US. It expects to spend $20 million a year on the Hyderabad facility once its size touches 500 people.

Rockwell Collins' own Indian R&D foray coincides with its lookout for business opportunities in the country's commercial aerospace and defence projects, even as it plans to grow its present relationship with HCL in outsourcing some of the company's high-value services.

The company is currently providing avionics to the country's two low-cost airlines, "" JetLite and IndiGo for their fleet.

Speaking with Business Standard on their India plans, Raj K Aggarwal, vice-president (global technology engineering and technology), Rockwell Collins, said the move was aimed at tapping the extremely talented human resource pool available in India for niche product development areas. It also plans to attract expats working in the US and elsewhere to the Hyderabad centre.

Backed by its strong portfolio of high-end products and solutions in communication, navigation and homeland security, the company also aims to enter the Indian defence sector, which it expects would offer more opportunities in the backdrop of growing political relationship between the US and India.

"Indian defence research institutes, including Hyderabad-based Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), have evinced interest in collaborating with Rockwell Collins in radio, display and navigation technologies," Aggarwal said.