With India pitching itself as global hub for MRO facilities for maritime and aviation platforms, French aerospace and defence major Dassault Aviation has decided to have its MRO facility in Noida to support fighter jets of the Indian Air Force.
The IAF operates a sizeable number of French-origin fighter jets in its fleet. Around 50 fourth-generation Mirage-2000s, approximately 80 Jaguars and 36 Rafale fighter aircraft were inducted in the last few years.
Sources said the Centre and the IAF prevailed upon Dassault to localise the MRO facility in India to cut down on imports and give a boost to atmanirbharta in the defence sector. Owing to that, the French company floated an Indian company Dassault Aviation Maintenance Repair and Overhaul India (DAMROI), the second after the Dassault Aircraft Services India Private Limited (DASIPL), which has its registered office at Defence Colony, New Delhi, to provide the MRO support for the Mirages and Rafales.
While DAMROI is headed by Indian CEO Posina Venkata Rao, DASIPL is run by a French national. Rao was a senior functionary in the DASIPL before his elevation to take over the DAMROI and has been involved with the company’s dealings in India for long.
Speaking to businessline, Rao said the proposed MRO facility is at a concept stage and it would take at least six months before the project takes shape. “We will build the MRO for the Indian Air Force. We will see what the customer needs,” Rao said when asked about the modalities of engaging the Air Force for maintenance of its French-origin fleet. He also stated that DAMROI will see “where it can bridge the gap”, given that the IAF already does maintenance of its aircrafts.
On whether this MRO will service French’s fighter jets operated by other countries, Rao said, “we will do it first for India but the door is not closed for world.”
The DAMROI will reach out to the Indian aeronautical industrial ecosystem for supply chain activities to service fighter aircrafts, giving exposure to the MSMEs and start-ups of India.
The IAF had acquired around 50 Mirage-2000 way back in 1985 with a 20 year maintenance contract. To keep the Mirages airworthy, the IAF inked another contract in 2015-16 with Dassault Aviation. The IAF has another ageing fleet of 80 French-origin Jaguar fighters which are expected to be number-plated by 2035. The proposed MRO can also aide Jaguars’ maintenance and repair.
Foreign OEMs are teaming with Indian partners to offer MRO facilities in India. Recently, leading global aerospace company, Boeing, partnered with AI Engineering Services Limited (AIESL) for utilising its MRO capabilities for overhaul of landing gears of P-8I aircrafts of Indian Navy. Another US defence major Lockheed Martin tied up with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) earlier this month for establishing MRO facility in India to support the IAF’s fleet of 12 C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft as well as other global C-130J fleets.
As per a Niti Aayog report of December 2022, the MRO market in India is expected to grow from $1.7 billion in 2021 to $4 billion by 2031.