By Ashish Saraf, VP and Country Director, Thales in India
New Delhi. 08 October 2024. As the Indian Air Force (IAF) celebrates its 92nd anniversary this year, Thales takes pride in supporting their modernisation efforts, and their tactical superiority and readiness in the face of evolving threats. Today, Thales stands as a trusted partner to the IAF, contributing its cutting-edge technologies to meet the force’s modernisation needs.
Aligning with Indian Air Force’s Modernisation Efforts
Thales has been a trusted partner of the Indian Air Force, with a common commitment to build a secure future. Our relationship with the IAF is based on our shared commitment to build a secure future. With the ever-evolving landscape of new-age warfare threats, the need for high-tech solutions that support the modernisation efforts of the IAF has become even more crucial. Our advanced systems including avionics, radar, reconnaissance pods, Identification Friend or Foe, as well as Inertial Navigation to Global Positioning System and electronic warfare are contributing in maintaining the IAF’s operational superiority.
As a global leader in technology, Thales possesses capabilities to design, develop and deploy equipment, systems and services that meet the most complex service requirements. In addition to this, Thales also brings the capability to upgrade solutions for a large range of combat aircraft.
As a proud member of the Rafale team, Thales provides several state-of-the-art equipment and systems aboard the Rafale like the AESA RBE2 radar, the SPECTRA electronic warfare suite, advanced man-machine interface with displays in the cockpit, missile electronics, the front-sector optronic with infrared search and track systems FSO-IRST, the CNI suite (communication, navigation, and identification), and a logistics support component.
Commitment to ‘Make in India for India and Make for the World’
India’s defence sector is undergoing a transformative phase, marked by an intense push towards ‘Make in India for India and make for the World’. Thales has been investing in the larger supply chain ecosystem in India, growing a network of over 75 suppliers in the country supporting domestic and international markets. In the last five years, our purchasing volume has reached around ~900 million euros and we are further growing this. Recently, Thales announced the partnership with Adani Defence to manufacture our 70mm rocket systems in India. In further support of the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ vision, we continue to establish co-operative partnerships with public and private sector industries, such as with Bharat Electronics Ltd dedicated to radars and Reliance Aerostructures Ltd for electronic warfare and radar, among others.
In an effort to serve India’s demands in defence and aerospace, we have been ramping up our engineering centres in Noida and Bengaluru and empowering the local industry to play a more significant role in the global market. We currently have around 2200 employees working with Thales and our JVs in India. These include over 1500 skilled engineers working in our Engineering Competence Centres in the country, who are actively contributing to not only our Indian projects but also our global endeavours. Additionally, our investments in the upcoming avionics Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in India further re-emphasises our dedication to delivering world-class services to Indian airline customers while supporting the local industry.
As we celebrate Indian Air Force Day, Thales reaffirms its commitment to supporting India’s growing defence industry. We will continue to drive innovation through our engineering competence centres and strategic partnerships thereby enabling the IAF to stay ahead of technological advancements.
