Article Posted on : - May 05, 2009

A file photo of L&T electronic goods

Mumbai (BNS): Indian engineering giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Tuesday signed a pact with the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) to set up a joint venture company at Talegaon near Pune to produce defence electronics items.
The JV entity will aim at design, development, manufacturing and related services in the fields of electronic warfare, radar, military avionics and mobile systems like modular bridges for military applications, L& T said in a statement here.

The formation of the joint venture company is subject to approval by the Indian Government.

“We welcome the formation of this joint venture that will create opportunities for development of state-of-the-art defence electronic products and systems for the Indian defence forces and for the rest of the world,” Chairman and Managing Director of L&T, A. M. Naik, said.

 L&T has been a major supplier of critical systems to Indian defence forces which include a wide range of products like weapon launchers, naval systems, radar systems, etc.

 Expressing hope to increase the European major’s base in India, EADS CEO Stefan Zoller said that the company would make efforts to move beyond just providing high technology sales to India by creating an industrial base with the development of long term partnership including transfer of technology.

 “The cooperation with L&T is an important milestone on the way to increase our industrial footprint in India. The Indian defence and security market is growing fast and we want to grow with it,” he said.

 The joint venture company will develop and manufacture indigenous solutions for military requirements of Indian customers as well as for the world market.