“Long and trustworthy partner of India”
VAYU: Please update us on Safran’s ‘Make in India’ initiatives and collaborations with the DRDO and BEL.
Safran: Safran has been a long and trustworthy partner of India for more than 60 years in many aeronautical fields of activity such as space propulsion (Vikas engines), helicopter engines, military engines for the Jaguar, Hawk, Mirage 2000 and Rafale, as well as inertial navigation systems and optronics solutions, engines and equipment for civil aircraft. Currently employing more than 600 employees at eight companies and a maintenance training centre in Hyderabad for CFM engines, Safran has continuously expanded its footprint in India and will continue to offer design, production and support services in aerospace and defence space. We are the largest provider in India for turbo-shaft engines for helicopters and have the unique distinction of powering 100% of helicopters manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). India is also the largest installed base worldwide for Safran with more than 1,200 INS (Sigma family) in use and being the reference of India’s Armed Forces.
In line with Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, Safran is building up an Indian supply chain for LEAP engines, through which it has already secured approximately 200 million euros of offset. Our current Indian supply base includes JV SHAe, Godrej & Boyce, Maini, Recaero India, Mach Aero India, SQUAD (JV with AEQUS and A&D), SESI (Safran Engineering Services India). We are also working on giving India access to air, land and sea applications through transfer of technologies that have been conducted with HAL for more than 30 years in various applications such as transfer of production for gyro mechanical navigation systems (ULISS) and Sigma-95N for fighters, AFCS (Automatic Flight Control System) and AHRS (Attitude Heading Reference System) for helicopters or codevelopment with DRDO/BEL of local inertial navigation systems (Land-INS and Air G3-INS).
We have also started developing a local supply chain in India, through Indian suppliers that have been qualified and integrated in our global supply chain and the creation of production centers such as the HAL/Safran JV based in Bangalore and Hyderabad cluster.
Under the Shakti engine cooperation with HAL, we have provided more that 70% transfer of technology for manufacturing and have set up a helicopter engine MRO JV. Once operational, this would help improve the turnaround time to repair and overhaul military helicopter engines. In addition to this, we have offered to collaborate with DRDO on the development of a military engines for their Indian fighter programmes including transfer of technology.
VAYU: Could you please elaborate on Safran’s role in partnering India in achieving self-reliance
Safran: At Safran, we believe achieving self-reliance means dealing with design, development, production as well as support and that is why we are willing to address all these activities, when it comes to working in India.
The production concerning development of a supply chain in India has already started and we are aiming to develop an MRO shop in India to support the civil engines as well at the appropriate time. The objective is to entail a significant foreign investment, create numerous highly skilled jobs, promote local MSMEs to act as a supplier to MRO shop, while also improving logistics efficiency and overall turnaround time (TAT) of engines availability to the airline operators in India.
We are already working to achieve design and development through our current activity with HAL on helicopter turbines. Safran’s relationship with HAL dates back to early 1960s with the transfer of licence for the Artouste engine to HAL. Since then, the engines for the Dhruv and Cheetal helicopters from HAL have been added to the portfolio. Initiated by HAL and powered with the support of Safran, the two extremely prestigious helicopter programmes: Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and the Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) are close to entering service in the coming months.
Currently, Safran Helicopter Engines has about 1,700 engines in service within India, of which about 1,500 are flying with the military operators. Jointly with DRDO, we have proposed to build the capability to design, develop, certify and produce engines in India for all the Indian platforms in order to make India sovereign in the strategic domain of military aerospace engine and join the only 3 other countries in the world that have this capability.
Safran Electronics & Defense has strengthen its partnership with HAL on helicopter autopilots providing state-of-theart development and integration capabilities to replace existing test benches and set up a software workshop to develop and validate control laws necessary for the use of AFCS on ALH Navy, LUH and the LCH.
Safran Electronics & Defense is also completing a ToT of Navigation Complex System with BEL for submarines which will become the reference and indigenous solution for all future Indian submarines programmes.
We can confidently state that we are in India for the long run and are seeking more local partnerships to build an entire ecosystem and contribute to Prime Minister’s ‘Aatmanirbhar Abhiyan’
VAYU: And an insight into your capabilities across defence and civil aerospace?
Safran: Over the past 60 years of Safran in India, we have contributed to the Indian aviation and defence sector. Safran has five core activities Aerospace propulsion, Aircraft equipment, Defense, Aerosystems and Aircraft interiors, all of which are serving Indian aerospace and defence activities. For each of these core businesses, Safran has developed a complete range of products and services addressing both civil as well as defence applications.
Currently deploying a workforce of 600 employees spread across eight different companies and a training centre, Safran believes in undertaking an assortment of activities ranging from design and production to services for our core businesses of aerospace and defense, thereby building and expanding our footprint and leadership in India.
With the M53 engine for the Mirage 2000 and M88 engine for the Rafale fighters, Safran is powering air superiority of the Indian Air Force.
In the defence sector, Safran is supporting the Indian Air Force with the M53 engine, integrated in the Mirage 2000. Recently added to the IAF fleet, the multirole Rafale fighter jets are integrated with the M88 engine. We are also working to support India in getting access to Helicopter Engine Sovereignty. The Shakti engine, co-developed by Safran and HAL, is currently in service on the Dhruv and has been selected on the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH). New repair facilities will be commissioned in the coming months for INS and Optronics solutions at various Air Force bases, Naval dockyards and Army workshops all over India and, Indigenous G3-INS (airborne application) and Land INS, based on Sigma inertial sensor block, will be the next generation of Indian designed and made INS
VAYU: Which programmes would be your priority in India this year?
Safran: Safran is committed to be a part of country’s ‘Make in India’ objectives in the aviation and defence space. We will continue to extend our support by expanding our industrial activity in India, further develop our supply chain and continue to propose a military engine codevelopment project that would allow a full transfer of technologies and pave the way to a complete ecosystem and a total autonomy for India.
We had set up a harness facility in Hyderabad last year and now we are setting up a complete cluster there including an engine part manufacturing facility. We will also improve support to the IAF on their Mirage 2000 engine fleet and use Indiantrained technicians to provide proximity support for the Rafale engines. We will also focus in developing the MRO capabilities for civil aerospace.
VAYU: 2020 has been an unusual year. How did Safran adapt to new realities dictated by the Covid-19 Pandemic?
Safran: 2020 has been an unprecedented year of lockdowns, with adverse effects on all the sectors including aerospace and defence. Since the beginning of the worldwide pandemic, we have been taking every possible step to help slow the virus’s spread and prioritise the well-being of our employees, families and customers. We also tried to ensure the ensure the business continuity for our customers, at the very best pace we could.
Currently each company has implemented the Group’s Covid-19 protocol, along with the measures to adjust and reorganise the workplace, in accordance with strict health, safety and social distancing instructions and other essential health precautions, such as frequent cleaning and disinfecting, limited number of staff on site at any one time, staggered entries and exits, rotating work schedules and time between shifts to avoid overlap, distribution of masks for certain workstations and provision of hand sanitizer dispensers.
There was strong impact on both OE and services activities and therefore, we continue our efforts of costs optimisation and adaptation in the organisation to meet various health constraints.