Northrop Grumman, BEL to sign co-production agreement tomorrow

Bangalore, Feb 6 (UNI) Northrop Grumman Corporation and Bharat Electronics Ltd today announced their plan to enter into an arrangement for co-production of equipments in India and will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the Aero India 2007 tomorrow.

As part of the arrangement, the companies would explore business opportunities on potential co-production options available for catering to the Centre's current and future aerospace and defence electronics requirements as well as Northrop Grumman's international market requirements.

Ms Katie Gray, Vice-President of F-16 programmes of Northrop Grumman, told newspersons here that the agreement would be built on individual strengths of the two companies.

Mr Brian J Morra, Sector Vice-President of Business Development and Strategic Planning for the company's Electronic Systems sector, said, ''We look forward to working closely with BEL in helping to meet the leading-edge defence-related product and service needs of the Indian defence ministry as well as our international market requirement.'' Speaking about the partnership, BEL General Manager (International Marketing) K Prakash said, ''Our partnership with Northrop Grumman will be mutually beneficial since it will help us provide innovative and hi-tech solutions for foreign manufacturers seeking Indian partners to meet their offset requirements. We will also provide contract-manufacturing support for Northrop Grumman.'' At the air show, Northrop Grumman Corporation would showcase some of its world-leading capabilities in advanced military radar, including fire control radar on the F-16 fighter and AESA radars on such platforms as the F-16 Block 60, F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning II and 737 AEW and C.

UNI