Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1) has signed a framework cooperation agreement with India's Tata Industries Ltd. for the joint development, manufacturing, marketing and support of defense products in India. IAI president and CEO Itzhak Nissan and Tata Sons chairman Ratan N. Tata signed the agreement.
In February, IAI and Tata Industries signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the joint venture in New Delhi during the Defexpo defense show.
The cooperation agreement between IAI and Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. covers a wide range of defense and aerospace products, including missiles, UAVs, radars, electronic warfare (EW) systems and homeland security systems. The companies will sign an agreement for the establishment of a joint venture in India shortly.
Tata Advanced Systems is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Industries focused on providing integrated defense and aerospace solutions.
Nissan said, "This agreement reflects IAI’s evolving relationship with India and with the Indian industries. India is a leading market for IAI, and partnerships with Indian industries are part of our long-term strategy. The joint venture will further improve IAI’s capability to best serve our Indian customers, and it will serve as a platform to develop new business opportunities."
Sources inform ''Globes'' that the push for the joint venture with Tata Industries was due to Indian demands for reciprocal procurements with foreign companies. IAI's link-up with Tata will enable IAI to transfer technology to the Indian Ministry of Defense for payment and to meet the reciprocal procurement requirements.
IAI is also in negotiations with the Indian government for the delivery of air defense systems. The $1.5 billion deal includes missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), satellites, planes, and homeland defense technologies.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 14, 2008
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