The Mauritius government has signed a contract worth nearly Rs 100 crore with aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) here to acquire its Dornier aircraft for maritime surveillance.
The contract was signed in Mauritius capital Port Louis yesterday by Kan Oye Fong Weng Poorun, Senior Chief Executive, Prime Minister's Office (Mauritius) and S Subrahmanyan, Managing Director, HAL (MiG Complex and Accessories), the company said in a statement today.
The inclusion of Dornier in the National Coast Guard, Mauritius Police Force, would result in an extensive enhancement of the present search and rescue capability and provide strategic depth to policing the extensive Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), it said.
HAL has supplied helicopters like Cheetah, Chetak and Dhruv, and two Dornier aircraft in maritime version to Mauritius in the past.
"Thanks to the support of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), External Affairs, our Coast Guard, and Government of Mauritius, this contract worth nearly Rupees 100 crores (USD 16 million) gives boost to our export efforts", HAL Chairman R K Tyagi said.
Several role-specific equipment had been fitted on the aircraft to meet the specialised requirement of the customer, he added.
HAL said the maritime aircraft was equipped with combination of 360 degree Surveillance Radar, Forward Looking Infra-Red System, Traffic Collision and Avoidance System, Weather Radar and host of other customer specified sensors.
HAL will make continuous efforts through its strong research and design base to develop and integrate new modifications on such aircraft, it added.
