NEW DELHI — BAE Systems of United Kingdom and India's state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Limited (HAL) are considering establishing a joint venture teaming up , under a Joint Venture (JV) to co-produce variants of the Hawk trainer, [including Combat hawk] , upgrade of the Jaguar aircraft and establish a partnership focused on in logistics and producing spares in India.
T. Suvarna Raju, HAL chairman and managing director, said, told Defense News , "We are in active dialogue with BAE Systems for exploring long-term opportunities to provide upgrades and logistics and spares support solutions for both Hawk trainer and Jaguar combat aircraft [which are already license-produced by HAL] for a worldwide market."
HAL and BAE have also decided to showcase a static display of the Combat Hawk aircraft in the upcoming Aero India air show in 2017, Raju added.
Dave Corfield, head of Hawk India, Military Air & Information, BAE Systems, said, "Our goal is to combine our strengths with HAL's to co-develop and co-produce a more capable version of Hawk for use in India and also to export from India to the worldwide market. A joint study by BAE Systems and HAL has indicated significant market potential for this class of aircraft. This more capable version of the Hawk is the Advanced Combat Hawk, or 'Dream Hawk,' combining improved maneuver performance with laser designation, precision smart weapons and state-of-the-art synthetic training."
An Indian Air Force (IAF) official said they have not considered ordering giving order for the Combat Hawk. of the BAE-HAL tie-up.
With no confirmed market for the Combat Hawk trainer, analysts question the sustainability of the are not sure if the proposed tie-up.between BAE-HAL will have a sustainable scope.
"Only time will tell if a Combat Hawk will be produced at HAL," said Nitin Mehta, a defense analyst here.
Analysts are question also sure about the proposed tie up between HAL and BAE to establish a Another analyst, t Joint Venture, Vivek Rae, former director general procurement of the Indian Defence Ministry, of Defence said, "HAL has set up [jont ventures] JV in the past. Their experience needs to be evaluated. What are the lessons learnt from past experience? Since management control will remain with HAL, it is unlikely that BAE will part with its intellectual property, except at high cost."
Combat Hawk
The proposed Combat Hawk, which is still in the study stage, could be and named "Dream Hawk" is proposed to be fitted with the advanced short-range air-to-air missile (ASRAAM) and the Brimstone, an air-launched ground attack missile to be supplied by MBDA of France. The aircraft will be used to coordinate for on strike coordinated armed reconnaissance (SCAR) and for close air support (CAS) missions.
A HAL source in HAL said his company has been exploring how to provide future possibilities to provide explore providing service support for Hawk trainer and Jaguar aircraft and to jointly produce Combat Hawk for the worldwide market.
"We are aiming to set up a joint venture for this purpose," he said, but he gave no timeline.
Currently HAL is license-producing 123 Hawk trainers in Bangalore and wants to use the assembly line to co-produce the Combat Hawk trainer, the source added.
Email: vraghuvanshi@defensenews.com
Vivek Raghuvanshi is the India correspondent for Defense News.
