Thaindian News

New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) The four-nation Eurofighter consortium foresees substantial growth opportunities on the world market, with India playing a crucial role, it said Friday.
“We evaluate the global demand for combat aircraft in the next 20 years at around 800 units. For Eurofighter Typhoon, we target 300 additional export contracts, with Asia representing a substantial part of these orders,” Enzo Casolini, CEO of Eurofighter GmbH, said.

“Given the developments already planned and the further upgrades we are studying, Eurofighter Typhoon will remain the most modern combat aircraft available on the global market for a long time,”

Bernhard Gerwert, chairman of the supervisory board of Eurofighter GmbH and CEO of Military Air Systems, a business unit of EADS Defence & Security (DS) said: “We are well positioned in the ongoing tender for the acquisition of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (by the Indian Air Force) because the Eurofighter Typhoon is the ideal answer to the threats that India faces.”

“The aircraft’s outstanding operational performance, coupled with low life-cycle costs and a tailor-made industrial partnership offer, make the Eurofighter Typhoon a key contender in India’s competition.”

The Eurofighter Typhoon is among the six aircraft in the fray for the IAF order.

“We are keen to phase India into the Eurofighter programme as a true industrial partner. By co-developing cutting edge future capabilities with us, India could play a key role in tapping the plane’s tremendous built-in growth potential,” Gerwert pointed out.

“As a production and development partner for future enhancements, India could also customize the Eurofighter Typhoon to its specific requirements,” he added.

In addition to supporting the growth of India’s indigenous defence industry, the four Eurofighter Typhoon partner companies and their 400 suppliers will give India access to an international sourcing network of unparalleled scope, a Eurofighter statement said.

They are confident to meet the 50 percent offset obligation of the request for proposal (RFP), the statement said, adding: On behalf of the Eurofighter consortium, EADS Defence & Security submitted the Eurofighter Typhoon bid and a comprehensive offset offer to the Indian authorities in 2008. Since then, 25 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were signed to enhance the industrial cooperation with India’s aerospace and defence industry.

On Monday, the day DEFEXPO 2010 begins here, aircraft of the German Air Force will take off from Germany for Bangalore, where the Indian Air Force will examine the Eurofighter Typhoon in the MMRCA field evaluation programme. Until March, trials will also be conducted in Jaisalmer and Leh. There, the combat aircraft will demonstrate its desert and high altitude performance.