Military

EADS and L&T ink pact for opportunities in aerospace and defence

Bangalore, 08 February 2007
Larsen and Toubro Ltd. (L&T) and European aerospace and defence group EADS took the first step towards joint exploration of business opportunities in defence and aerospace. On Thursday, Mr MV Kotwal Senior Executive Vice President of Larsen and Toubro and Daniel Baubil Executive Vice President and Head of Global Industrial Development of EADS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to establish a long-term, profitable and stable relationship to better address the needs of the aerospace and defence markets in India and around the world. The signing took place at the Aero India 2007 exhibition in the city.

“Cooperation is a very important part of our industrial development strategy in India. The capability and capacity of Larsen and Toubro and EADS represent a great potential for synergies to offer competitive systems. We are keen to develop strong industrial teaming with L&T that will help to better meet future national and international requirements,” said Daniel Baubil, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Industrial Development of EADS at the signing of the Agreement.

Mr M.V. Kotwal, Senior Executive Vice President, L&T, said that “the opening up and rapid growth of the defence market represents a major opportunity. This can lead to new forms of cooperation involving innovative technologies. As a company that has been supplying critical equipment and systems to the strategic sectors of defence and aerospace for over four decades, we welcome this opportunity to induct state of the art technology, and expand our range of high value offerings.”

The Agreement between L&T and EADS defines the formation of working teams to build a joint business model and appropriate common strategies on several key segments of the aerospace and defence market.

L&T is India’s leading technology, engineering, manufacturing and construction company with global operations. It is a company characterized by strong customer orientation, professionalism, transparency and the demonstrated ability to meet global benchmarks. L&T’s Heavy Engineering Division operates at the upper end of the technology spectrum, and has for over six decades been at the forefront of introducing new processes, products and material into Indian manufacturing. L&T has strong international linkages through technology partnerships and ongoing relationships with global suppliers, consultants and customers.

EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2005, EADS generated revenues of € 34.2 billion and employed a workforce of over 113,000. The EADS Group includes the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the world's largest helicopter supplier Eurocopter and the joint venture MBDA, the international leader in missile systems. EADS is the major partner in the Eurofighter consortium, is the prime contractor for the Ariane launcher, develops the A400M military transport aircraft and is one of the largest industrial partners for the European satellite navigation system Galileo.

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