In a significant development, French aircraft maker Dassault Aviation is to set up a new Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Noida to provide support to the French-origin fighter jets in the Indian Air Force, ANI reported quoting defence officials.
The Indian Air Force operates around 50 Mirage-2000 aircraft inducted in the 1980s and 36 Rafale fighter aircraft inducted in the last few years.
"The French firm recently informed the Defence Ministry and the Indian Air Force about setting up a new Indian company Dassault Aviation Maintenance Repair and Overhaul India (DAMROI) to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul support for the French-origin fighter aircraft in India," defence officials told ANI.
Dassault informed the Defence Ministry that it is setting up the new MRO company in line with India's vision of Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) and would be opening the facility in one of the industrial sectors of NOIDA in UP, they said.
The company has informed the Defence Ministry that the new Indian company would have an Indian national and old Dassault representative in India, Posina Venkata Rao as its Chief Executive Officer. Rao has been associated with Dassault Aviation in India for many decades and has been closely involved in their campaigns in India. He will have a workforce of both French and Indian nationals as part of the team.
Dassault has informed that it plans to progressively scale up the MRO activities at DAMROI in cooperation with the Indian aeronautical industrial ecosystem, thereby considerably enhancing the scope of support for fighter aircraft of French origin.
The Jaguar deep penetration fighter jets which are on their last legs of operations in India can also be supported by the MRO as they also have French connection. Dassault is negotiating a deal with the Indian Navy to sell its Rafale Marine jets.
The plan is to acquire 26 of these planes for the Indian Navy which will deploy them on board the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. The Indian Air Force has also prepared two bases for the Rafale fighters in Ambala and Hashimara.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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