M&M guns for big defence business

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is bidding for at least $ 3 billion (Rs 12,000 crore) of the total $ 5 billion worth of business in land systems from the Indian armed forces in the next few years. This information was revealed by Anand Mahindra, vice-president and managing director. Another $ 300 to $ 400 million worth of business orders for maritime underwater systems are also expected to be handled by a new joint venture (JV) company to be set up soon.

The company spearheading this bid is M&M’s Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS). It makes light combat vehicles, multi-utility vehicles and sports utility vehicles besides design and development for prototyping special military vehicles and conversion of available platforms to special vehicles. The company supplied 200 Rakshaks, a bullet-proof vehicle, to the Indian Army during 2006-07. It is now venturing into supply of light armoured vehicles, high mobility vehicles and underwater naval systems.

The $ 6 billion (Rs 24,000 crore) Mahindra Group will be setting up a plant in Faridabad (Haryana) to manufacture a range of vehicles for land combat, while an existing plant in Pune will be transferred to a new JV to be formed with Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei (WASS) of Italy.

MDS has inked an MoU for a strategic alliance with WASS, the maritime underwater systems subsidiary of the US$ 20 billion Finmeccanica Group of Italy. The proposed JV will be a 74:26 set-up with MDS having the majority stake.

The Finmeccanica Group has had a long association with the Indian armed forces in supplying lightweight torpedoes, submarine-fired decoys, and also been part of the highly successful transfer of technology programmes with Indian industry in the past.

“MDS is India's leading provider of up-armoured and bullet-proof vehicles with more than 500 Rakshaks and up-armoured Scorpios in service in the Indian Army and security forces. These vehicles have proven themselves repeatedly in operations and have earned a formidable reputation by saving the lives of our armed forces personnel," said Brigadier Khutub Hai, chief executive, MDS.

According to Brigadier Hai, MDS will soon be moving operations to a new plant in Faridabad, where a Mahindra Special Military Vehicles (MSMV) facility is being set up. It will house modern facilities for R&D, prototype fabrication and system integration of vehicles for military use. This is the first such facility in India in the private sector.

Meanwhile, Anand Mahindra said: "The Mahindra Group has had a long and illustrious relationship with the defence sector. MDS has emerged as one of the foremost suppliers of light combat/armoured vehicles and their derivatives."

New product with BAE

British defence and aerospace company, BAE Systems and M&M are also in talks to jointly develop an Indian mine-protected vehicle based on BAE Systems' highly successful RG-31 mine protected armoured personnel carrier (APC) called Casspir. Since 1999, 165 Casspirs have been supplied to the Indian Army.

"Our cooperation with BAE Systems for joint production of mine-protected vehicles is a strategic fit for our vehicle armouring business," said Brigadier Hai.

The all-steel, welded armour, monocoque hull of the RG-31 protects occupants from anti-tank mine detonations and has saved scores of crews from mine and roadside bomb attacks. With a modular interior layout, the vehicle can be configured as an APC, command vehicle, ambulance and surveillance vehicle. In standard APC guise, this air-conditioned vehicle carries a 8-10-strong crew.

M&M also unveiled three new vehicles at the expo. The Axe Fast Attack Vehicle (FAV) is a lightweight, high mobility, high payload combat vehicle, designed for use by special forces and for varied operational requirements. It comes with both diesel and petrol engines, automatic transmission and independent suspension, giving it outstanding high mobility capability.

The Marksman is India’s first armoured capsule- based light bullet-proof vehicle designed to protect defence personnel, para military and police forces against small arms fire and underbody grenade attacks.

The Striker is a versatile new-generation general purpose light military vehicle. Also on display was the Up Armoured Scorpio designed to protect VIPs and is already being used by the Indian armed forces well as by some foreign countries.

MDS Underwater Systems has developed yet another niche area of defence expertise. Having undergone stringent trials of the DRDO/naval-designed sea mine of the Indian Navy in 2006, MDS was considered ‘fit for production’ in 2006. With this ability to manufacture an underwater product, the company decided to participate in the specialised field of underwater armament and systems for the Navy.

Dedicated infrastructure, including the filament winding equipment, was erected at Mahindra Underwater Systems (MUS), Pune. Products include sea mines, its variants, filament wound carbon fibre tubes, etc. The JV with the Italian company could see a new facility being set up in Visakhapatnam.