Northrop Grumman to set up shop

The $30.72 billion American defence major Northrop Grumman Corporation is all set to open base in India in the final quarter of this financial year, a year after fellow American company Lockheed Martin opened shop in the national capital.

The company, which is also in the race to bag the lucrative contract from the Indian Air Force for 126 multi-role combat aircraft with its F/A-18 fighter, is bullish about the Indian defense market with India being one of the leading importers of defense equipment in the world.

"We are keen on India and see a lot of potential here. Northrop Grumman will set up an office in New Delhi before the end of the financial year, most probably in the last quarter," said Joseph C Moynihan, vice president (Arab world, South West Asia and Africa), Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems.

The company has also been in talks with the Indian defence establishment for various military hardware that it has to offer and is close to clinching deals on a infra-red technology based protection system for airborne high value targets and a ground based air surveillance radar system.

"We are close to clinching a deal on our Directional Infrared Countermeasure (DIRCM) self protection suite that will protect aircrafts carrying high value targets like political leaders against ground launched infrared guided missiles. I should expect to see this coming through by the end of the year," Moynihan said.

"Another piece of hardware that they have showed interest in is the TPS 78 air defense surveillance radar and we hope to clinch this deal by the second quarter of 2007-08. The big one really is the deal for the multi-role aircraft but we anticipate that from 2008 onwards we would be able to bag at least one major contract every year."

The AN/AAQ-24(V) NEMESIS DIRCM system is designed to protect aircraft from infrared guided missiles while the TP series of radars provides primary and secondary surveillance, automatic aircraft tracking and aircraft control, as well as simultaneous ballistic missile surveillance and tracking in a single fully-integrated package available in both long-range and short range versions.