India's Samtel Avionics, South Korea's Hanwha To Venture For Military Applications

India’s Samtel Avionics and South Korea’s Hanwha Systems are planning to set up joint venture to manufacture products of avionics and military applications under ‘Make in India’.

The joint venture is aimed at manufacturing military electronics and optronics across multiple platforms, such as missile electronics, rockets, guided missile and laser-guided bombs.

“In the aerospace sector, this is Hanwha’s first venture with a private company. There are multiple domains that are complementary to what we do in military electronics and optronics. With Hanwha, we feel we are adding muscle to our portfolio of products, ” Puneet Kaura, Executive Director, Samtel Avionics, was quoted as saying by The Hindu Business Line today.

The $3.5-billion Hanwha Systems is keen to go for a full transfer of technology. “The products are not restricted to a single platform as they can be fitted on all existing missile products manufactured in India.” Kaura said.

The products the JV plans to manufacture will be required by the armed forces over several years, Kaura added.

“We are talking about multiple products; depending on the requirement, multiple products may turn into a few hundreds of millions. At this point, I can’t specify how much Samtel will get because it depends on when we get it.” he added.

“The value potential is pretty big as it is not fixed to any platform. We are talking about 3-4 products, and each has its own potential,” he added.

 The $65-billion Hanwha Group had made its first entry in India through another group company Hanwha Techwin, in collaboration with Larsen and Toubro, to provide artillery guns for the Indian Army, although the programme is yet to be awarded.