Safran Electronics and Defence, a French multinational company that designs, develops, and manufactures aircraft engines, rocket engines, and various aerospace and defence-related equipment, has expressed plans to expand its operations in India.
Alexandre Ziegler, executive vice president (defence division), Safran, emphasised India’s importance as one of the world’s most significant economies and predicted further growth in the coming years.
In an interview with ANI, Ziegler said “We are building one of our largest manufacturing hubs including our largest MRO centre for aircraft engines in the world, which will be progressively built in India late next year.”
He also said that the company is focusing more on engineering in India to develop and co-develop products. Safran is collaborating on joint projects to contribute to India’s strategic autonomy by supplying advanced defence systems.
Zeigler spoke about two initiatives of the company.
Firstly, to partner with India to produce fighter jet engines which only a few countries have the knowhow to manufacture. Secondly, Safran aims to co-develop an advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA) with India, giving the country advanced fighter jet capabilities like super-cruise and stealth.
Additionally, Safran is collaborating with India on inertial navigation systems (INS), which help track position and orientation when GPS signals are not available. By developing and co-developing these specialised devices with India, Safran aims to enhance their partnership and cooperation in this field of technology.
Safran is substantially investing in India with a euro 36 million production facility in Hyderabad for advanced aircraft engine parts and a joint venture with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bengaluru for helicopter engines.
It is also establishing a USD 150 million MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) facility in Hyderabad for servicing engines used by Indian and foreign commercial airlines.
