General
Brazil is offering India the Embraer C-390 Millennium tactical airlifter to meet an Indian Air Force requirement for up to 80 medium transport aircraft. (Victor Barreira)
India and Brazil are progressing opportunities to collaborate on defence equipment development and production, including a potential programme centred on the Embraer C-390 Millennium tactical transport aircraft.
Following meetings in New Delhi on 15 October between India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Brazilian counterpart José Múcio Monteiro Filho, the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the ministers had identified “priority areas for joint work including exploring opportunities for co-development and co-production of defence equipment”.
The Brazilian MoD said the two countries are also scheduled to sign a defence industry memorandum of understanding (MOU) soon, which seeks to expand collaboration in the development, production, and commercialisation of defence products. Brazil is also scheduled to host a second bilateral defence industry meeting between the two countries in November.
Signed on 17 October, Embraer and India’s Mahindra Group also entered an agreement to co-operate on the C-390 bid for the Indian Air Force (IAF). Brazil has offered the aircraft to meet the IAF’s requirement to procure a new medium transport aircraft (MTA).
Mahindra said in a press release that its agreement with Embraer, which was signed alongside the inauguration of the Brazilian company’s India office in New Delhi, would deepen the companies’ existing ties to include joint marketing and industrialisation and “developing India as a hub for the C-390 Millennium”.
“Embraer and Mahindra Group will … identify opportunities for local manufacturing, assembly facilities, supply chain, and MRO [maintenance, repair, and overall] activities,” Mahindra added.
Looking to read the full article?
Gain unlimited access to Janes news and more…