INDUSTRY TEAMINGS
16 Jul 07. With the Indian government set to ask for proposals to upgrade its fleet of Mirage 2000 fighters, French defence and aerospace company Thales will soon enter into a pact with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to jointly bid for the project, top officials said here. Thales has also committed itself to a 30 percent offsets clause for the upgrade, unlike some purchases in the past like Russia’s Sukhoi-30s and MI-17 choppers in which upgrades were taken as part of the original deal, the officials added. Apart from HAL, other Indian companies that are expected to partner with Thales in the upgrade project include the Department of Aviation Research and Bharat Electronics Ltd that has had a long association with the French company. The Thales-HAL consortium will include Dassault, which shut down the production line for Mirage 2000s five years ago. Dassault is also in the race to sell 126 multi-role combat aircraft, Renault, to India to replace the MiG-21 fleet. (Source: Google)