Thales, Airbus Helicopters Eager On More Business In India

Thales, Air Bus expressed desire to take forward the on-going business activities in India in cooperation with HAL at the ongoing Farnborough Air Show.

Mr. Jean-Bernard Lavy, CEO of Thales called on HAL Chairman and Directors that Thales would have a strategic look at India given the business potential in defense sector and he and his team would be in India sometime in November this year.

Thales is involved with HAL in Mirage 2000 up-gradation program and extends technical support to several major HAL platforms.

Dr. Tyagi briefed the delegation on various activities and potential business expansion on various fronts. Mr. Lavy emphasized on structuring all the activities over certain period rather than handling each project on case by case basis.

The Air Bus Helicopter CEO and President, Mr. Guillaume Faury and his team also met the HAL top executives. The Air Bus Helicopter is involved with HAL Cheetah and Chetak projects but expressed the desire to play a greater role in Indian helicopter market which has huge potential.

They seemed keen on Indian Multirole Helicopters (IMRH) and Navy Multirole Helicopters (NMRH), HAL Sources said.