Airbus : Defence and Space awarded 13 million Euro periscope maintenance facility for India

Airbus Defence and Space's Optronics business unit and the Indian Ministry of Defence have signed a 13 million Euro contract for the delivery of a periscope maintenance facility in Delhi. The dedicated facility will be for the maintenance and repair of all of India's submarine fleet periscopes and is due to be completed in September 2016.

The maintenance facility contract demonstrates Airbus Defence and Space's commitment to not only supply systems and technologies to customers, but also to equip them with the necessary operational maintenance capability. Harald Hansen, Director Business Development Sea at Airbus Defence and Space's Optronics business unit, said: "When a product is serviced, a lot of time is lost during the transport between different facilities. Once maintenance work can be done locally, the operators can speed up this process and enhance the operational readiness of the Indian fleet."

The establishment of the periscope maintenance facility and the training of technicians from the Indian Navy in Germany and India can be seen as a first step in establishing an in-country service capability for future naval operations. For the implementation of the facility, Airbus Defence and Space is partnering with Tata Consultancy Services and H&H Precision Pvt Ltd.

Airbus Defence and Space's Optronics business unit is a world leader in the field of surveillance, periscope and high-performance optronic mast systems and has manufactured and delivered more than 3,000 periscopes and optronic mast systems. The current systems are in use by 21 leading naval forces around the world. Airbus Defence and Space has previously established periscope maintenance facility in Germany, South Korea, Italy and Greece.

With approximately 800 employees at its German sites in Oberkochen and Wetzlar as well as in Irene (South Africa), Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and Sidi bel Abbès (Algeria), the Optronics business unit in Airbus Defence and Space develops, designs and produces optronic, optical and precision-engineered products for military, civil and security applications. These are used globally by armed forces and security personnel for monitoring, identification and classification purposes, as well as for precise measurement, evaluation and targeting. The optronic products are used for land, air, sea and space missions on a variety of platforms. These include submarines and armoured vehicles as well as aircraft, satellites and UAVs.

Airbus Defence and Space is a division of Airbus Group formed by combining the business activities of Cassidian, Astrium and Airbus Military. The new division is Europe's number one defence and space enterprise, the second largest space business worldwide and among the top ten global defence enterprises. It employs some 40,000 employees generating revenues of approximately €14 billion per year.