Swedish defence major SAAB has on Friday announced a collaboration with India’s Adani Group to manufacture their Gripen fighter jets in India if selected by the upcoming single engine aircraft contest of the India Air Force (IAF).
This will be contingent on the two companies, SAAB and Adani, qualifying and being shortlisted in the evaluation process.
"Our plan together is to create a big defence ecosystem in India... Building new fighters is very similar to doing high technology projects in energy sector," said Hasan Buske, President and CEO of SAAB.
Announcing the collaboration, Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group, said the partnership would be in "aerospace and defence, including the Gripen".
The announcement comes at a time when the IAF is about to initiate the process in the next few months for the selection of a single-engine fighter aircraft to replace the Russian MIG-21s and MIG-27s in service under the recently promulgated Strategic Partnership (SP) model of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP).
So far, Adani has no presence in the defence sector and no experience in the manufacturing space either.
The SP model has four segments submarines, single-engine fighter aircraft, helicopters and armoured carriers/main battle tanks and specifically intends to open up defence manufacturing to the private sector. The deal for 100 plus fighter aircraft is estimated to be worth over ₹60,000 crore.
Recently, US aircraft major Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) signed an agreement to produce the F-16 Block 70 fighter aircraft in India.
F-16 and Gripen are the likely contenders in the race for over a 100 fighters which have to be manufactured in India by an Indian private company with technology transfer from the foreign Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM).
In anticipation of the tender, the two companies have made an aggressive pitch with offers of extensive technology transfer, exporting from the assembly line in India and creating thousands of skilled jobs locally.