Defence major Safran to set up its first electronics unit in India
French defence conglomerate Safran Group has indicated to India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval that it is willing to set up its first Defence Electronics unit outside France in India, people familiar with the matter said, pointing out that this a sign of the strategic relationship between the two countries becoming deeper.
The people, who asked not to be named added that during the two day strategic dialogue (September 30 and October 1) between Doval and French President Emmanuel Macron’s diplomatic advisor Emmanuel Bonne and his chief military advisor, Fabien Mandon, France agreed to work with India on advanced materials and metallurgy, the key to manufacturing critical parts of military and civilian engines. For India to absorb high end technology, it is important for the Indian industry to have knowledge on advanced metallurgy for forging and casting of key parts of aircraft engines, they said.
In the course of the dialogue, Safran revealed its plans to set up a defence electronics facility in India to manufacture sensors and vital electronics parts needed to support military platforms. HT learns that the company is yet to decide on the location of this facility.
French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation SA has already acquired land to build a full-fledged maintenance, overhaul and repair facility at Jevar in Uttar Pradesh for handling Rafale fighters and civilian aircraft.
France has also decided to jointly develop with India, unmanned sub-surface, surface and aerial systems or underwater drones for submarines apart from supporting India in developing counter-swarm drone and armed drone technology.
HT also learns that during the dialogue, the two sides discussed sensitive security issues ranging from cyber security to military applications in space including the joint launch of military satellites and the co-development and manufacture of stand-off weapons such as the Hammer missile .
However, the highlight of Doval’s visit to France was his hour-long meeting with Macron with the Ukraine war and Israel’s war on Lebanon being the focus of discussion. While NSA Doval gave his assessment on the Ukraine war, French Foreign Minister Jean Noel Barrot gave his assessment of the situation in West Asia hours after he returned from Beirut. The shared assessment was that Israel would likely continue land operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon in order to militarily degrade the Shia terrorist group while trying to support a moderate government in the strife-torn nation.
The two sides also exchanged frank notes on the global security environment including Chinese posture in the Indo-Pacific , the people said.