India has signed a euro 13 million deal with Airbus Defence and Space for the delivery of a dedicated facility in the country for the maintenance and repair its submarine fleet periscopes. The project is due to be completed in September 2016.

"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," said Harald Hansen, Director Business Development Sea at Airbus Defence and Space's Optronics business unit. The maintenance facility contract demonstrates the firm's commitment to not only supply systems and technologies to customers, but also to equip them with the necessary operational maintenance capability, a statement by the company said.

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, it said. For the implementation of the facility, Airbus Defence and Space is partnering with Tata Consultancy Services and H&H Precision Private Limited.

The company has previously established periscope maintenance facility in Germany, South Korea, Italy and Greece. 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.

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