Posts Tagged 'EADS'

Eurocopter vying for deals worth €10-15 billion

Bangalore : Eurocopter, a division of aerospace and defence company EADS, is looking at projects worth €10-15 billion (around Rs60,000-90,000 crore) over the next five years, with India being the largest market for military helicopters in Asia.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to replace its entire fleet of over 600 Cheetah-Chetak helicopters, which Eurocopter had jointly produced with HAL.
The helicopter major is bidding for the order of 197 reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters that Indian government plans to procure. For this, Eurocopter showcased the best in its breed of helicopter — the AS550 Fennec. The military-certified and combat-proven AS550 C3 Fennec has exceptional performance at high altitude and in hot weather conditions.
“The field trials with full mission equipment were completed flawlessly.It is a fully certified and a reference helicopter across the world that has been sold in many countries, underlining its capabilities. It is a huge order and we are sparing no resources in this campaign (reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters),” said Norbert Ducrot, senior VP, Eurocopter.
Eurocopter is also eyeing other major projects in India, including cooperation with HAL on co-developing and co-producing a 10-12 tonne helicopter specially designed to address the needs of all the armed forces.
Eurocopter will offer the AS365 naval Panther for the tender to the Navy and Coast Guard. Panther is the military version of the civilian Dauphin, which has been very well received in the Indian market.
12/02/11 Supriya Ghorpade/Daily News & Analysis

Eurocopter sells five choppers in India

Bangalore: European helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter on Friday announced it has sold five AS350 B3 passenger transport helicopters to three Indian customers .
Three were ordered by Global Vectra, whose fleet will grow to seven AS350 B3s, while Summit Aviation and SS Aviation purchased one each.
“All five are scheduled to be delivered during 2011,” said Eurocopter president and CEO Lutz Bertling here on the sidelines of Aero India-2011.
“Seeing this trend, we are confident the AS350 B3 will be instrumental in developing such segments as heli-tourism, passenger transportation, rescue, aerial work and law enforcement throughout the country,” Bertling said.
Capable of performing at extremely high altitudes, the AS350 B3 single-engine helicopter can carry more passengers in hot and high conditions than any other rotary-wing aircraft in its class.
The AS350 B3 has experienced major success in heli-skiing applications at such locations as the Alps in Europe, North America’s Rocky Mountains and Alaska, and the Andes in South America – with operations now extended to the Himalayas in India.
11/02/11 IANS/Times of India

L&T, Cassdian joint venture finally takes off

In view of the government altering its current foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the defence sector from 26% to a higher percentage, the joint venture (JV) between L&T and Cassidian – defence and security division of European Aeronautic Defence & Space (EADS) – has included a provision that would automatically raise the foreign ownership as and when the new rule comes into force.
According to informed sources, who did not want to be named, it was on this assurance of subsequent relaxation of the FDI cap that Cassidian has agreed to invest in the JV.
Initially, the Franco-German defence and security company did not want to come in as a minority stakeholder in the JV.
“We are hoping things will change soon and the government will rethink on the 26% FDI cap in the defence sector. Also, when a foreign firm enters into a joint venture with a local company, the new entity automatically becomes an Indian company. So why put a cap of 26%,” K Sreekumar, who will be heading the L&T and Cassidian JV said.
11/02/11 Suparna Goswami Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

Cassidian opens defence engineering centre in Bangalore

Bangalore : With an aim to achieve an edge over its competitors, Cassidian, the defence and security division of European Aeronautic Defence & Space (EADS), has set up an engineering centre for its military aircraft, defence avionics and homeland security systems in Bangalore to develop products for the Indian market.
EADS already has an Airbus R&D and engineering centre for its civilian aircraft in the city that has been operational for around a year now.
While several companies have been off-shoring engineering work in difference disciplines to India, this is first instance of a foreign company opening its defence-oriented engineering centre in the country.
Stefan Zoller, CEO of Cassidian, said the move had been driven by the growing potential of India’s defence market and its emerging aerospace manufacturing ecosystem.
“The engineering centre goes to show our commitment to increase our industrial footprint in this rapidly growing country. It makes complete sense for a nation to develop its own product and export it,” he said.
The centre will be staffed largely by Indian engineers, Zoller said, adding that the company would raise the number of employees at the facility to 200 by the end of 2012 from the current 60.
09/02/11  Suparna Goswami Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis