Nagpur. 29 October, 2017. This is a step ahead in Indo-French defence and aerospace collaboration. Eric Trappier, Chairman of Dassault Aviation and Anil D. Ambani, Chairman of the Reliance Group laid the Foundation Stone for the Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited manufacturing facility in Mihan, Nagpur.
The Foundation Stone was laid in the presence of Florence Parly, Minister of Armed Forces of the French Republic; Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways of India, who is also the Member of Parliament of the city of Nagpur; and Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of the State of Maharashtra; and Mr. Alexandre Ziegler, Ambassador of France to India. Also present were over 200 dignitaries from the State and City administration and local industry.
Under this Joint Venture (51% Reliance Infrastructure and 49% Dassault Aviation) the facility will manufacture several components of the offset obligation connected to the purchase of 36 Rafale Fighters from France, signed between the two Governments in September 2016.
Reliance Group Chairman, Anil D. Ambani, stated “the Reliance Dassault partnership will bring high levels of Technology Transfer. It will make India a major supplier into the global aviation supply chain. It will be the endeavor of both Dassault and Reliance to fully support Prime Minister Modi’s “Make in India” and “Skill India” policies and to accelerate India’s pursuit of self sufficiency in the aerospace sector.”
DRAL will manufacture components for the Legacy Falcon 2000 Series of Civil Jets manufactured by Dassault Aviation and thus will become part of its Global Supply Chain. These first steps are expected to achieve in the coming years the possible setting up of final assembly of Rafale and Falcon Aircraft. The Joint Venture also represents a unequalled Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by Dassault Aviation of over 100 Million Euros, the largest such Defence FDI in one location in India.
Dassault Aviation Chairman, Eric Trappier, declared that “this Foundation Stone laying demonstrates Dassault’s firm commitment to implementing Prime Minister Modi’s “Make in India” program. It gives the 65 year-long strong association of Dassault-Aviation in India a new momentum and the will of future manufacturing developments.”
The facility will train thousands of skilled workers in aviation assembly and integration, and lead to huge employment generation in Nagpur and its surrounding areas. It will also attract and house an organic ecosystem of over 200 MSME’s to secure the component and avionics manufacturing needs of Rafale and Falcon Jets.
