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India’s automobile giant Mahindra & Mahindra Limited and the BAE Systems of the UK have agreed to forge a joint venture company in India and the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) of the Indian government has cleared its approval. The joint venture proposes to develop strike vehicles for the Indian Army beside its existing projects that includes customized armoured vehicles. The company’s equity split will be 74% Mahindra & Mahindra and 26% BAE Systems, in accordance with the current defence sector Foreign Direct Investment regulations.
The joint venture between the Mahindra & Mahindra and BAE envisages a futuristic program which will focus on a host of future artillery programmes including the M777 light weight howitzer and the FH77B 155mm howitzer. Besides that, it will be involved in projects like the ’Axe’ high mobility vehicle as well as UP-armoured and bulletproof four wheel drives, Rapid Intervention Vehicles and the Marksman light armoured vehicle.
Presently, the Indian Army is using around 2,000 Russian BMP-1and BMP-2 multipurpose armored vehicles, equipped with antitank missiles and other weapons. The Indian Army has chalked out plans to procure over 5000 light strike military vehicles in the next five years. The projected need for the include four wheel drive vehicles, high power-to weight ratio vehicles which can travel at 80 kilometers per hour and carry rocket launchers and Global Positioning System navigation systems.
Mahindra & Mahindra Limited has officially announced that the joint venture company will be headquartered in New Delhi with manufacturing at Faridabad near Delhi. An initial investment of $21.25 million will be put in by the two companies over a period of three years. BAE and Mahindra have been working together to develop a mine protected vehicle to be used by India’s military and this will be a key project for the new business. A prototype of the vehicle has been developed and will be produced at a manufacturing facility in Faridabad. This new mine protected vehicle is currently named MPVI (Mine Protected Vehicle India) has been produced using indigenously produced materials.
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