The total size of the deal comes to over £700 million
BAE Systems, the UK-based defence security and aerospace company, and Rolls-Royce Group, the power systems company, today received separate contracts worth £700 million to supply 57 Hawk advanced jet trainer (AJT) aircraft and their engines to India.
BAE would receive £500 million (around $780 million) for supplying the 57 jets, while Rolls-Royce would get up to £200 million ($312 million) for supplying the Mk871 variant of its Adour engines, the two companies said.
Of the 57 jets, 17 would be operated by the Indian Navy and the rest by the Indian Air Force. The contract was signed with Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) at the state-run defence unit’s headquarters in Bangalore, in the presence of British Prime Minister David Cameron. The final terms and conditions of the contract were signed by Guy Griffiths, group managing director, international, BAE Systems.
The aircraft will be manufactured under licence at HAL’s facilities in Bangalore and BAE Systems will provide specialist engineering services, raw materials and equipment necessary for airframe production and the support package for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.
The BAE Systems Hawk will be powered by Rolls-Royce’s Mk871 variant of the Adour, which will be assembled in Bangalore, in partnership with HAL.
“BAE Systems will be able to build on its long-standing relationship with HAL to deliver a further batch of this aircraft to improve the IAF’s fast jet training capacity and establish a similar fast jet training solution for the Navy,” said Andrew Gallagher, managing director and chief executive officer of BAE Systems India.
“The Hawk AJT fast jet training solution enables the Air Force or Navy to provide pilots for modern fighter aircraft like the Eurofighter Typhoon or Sukhoi SU-30,” Griffiths said. “This new order continues and strengthens the long standing relationship between BAE Systems and HAL.”
In February 2003, India had awarded a $1.7-billion contract to BAE Systems to supply trainer fighter jets. Prior to today’s announcement, BAE Systems was already working with HAL and Rolls-Royce to supply 66 Hawk aircraft to the Indian Air Force. This additional order will extend the partnership for another six years.
