Article Posted on : - Oct 25, 2017

NEW DELHI (PTI): French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation and Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Aerospace Ltd will this week lay the foundation stone of an aerospace park which will manufacture aircraft components for the Indian and global market.

French Defence Minister Florence Parlay, top officials of Dassualt Aviation and Chairman of Reliance Group Anil D Ambani are scheduled to attend the event in Nagpur on Friday, an official said.

The Dhirubhai Ambani Aerospace Park (DAAP) is being set up in the city's Mihaan Special Economic Zone.

The joint venture is being set up as part of Dassault's offset obligations for the Rs 58,000 crore deal to supply 36 Rafale fighter jets to India. The deal was signed in September 2016.

Spread over 289 acres, DAAP is touted to be the largest greenfield aerospace project in India. The joint venture will be the leading entity to execute the Rafale offset programme.

The aerospace park will have assembly lines and manufacturing facilities for fixed wing aircraft and will produce aircraft components for global markets, said the official.

The Dassault-Reliance partnership will bring in not only high level transfer of technology but also help develop the eco-system of the domestic aerospace sector and feed into the global supply chain, he said.

A large number of Indian MSMEs are also expected to set up facilities at DAAP.

The Dassault-Reliance JV has already shortlisted large number of vendors, mostly small- and medium-size enterprises, to be part of the supply chain at DAAP.

Production at the facility is expected to start in the first quarter of 2018; phase one will be fully operational by the third quarter of 2018, said the official who wished not to be named.

The Rafale combat aircraft will come with various India-specific modifications.