With the increasing focus on indigenous R&D and production by the government of India, do you envisage a possibility of collaborating with Indian public or private sector companies for design and development?
IAI has built a close partnership with India over the last 30 years and is proud to partner and collaborate with the public and private sectors. Today, we have more than 20 partners in India and we are working with many of them on R&D activities for both software and hardware.
Can you talk about your multiple partnerships with Different Govt Organisation and what roadmap do you see in the future?
We are working together with different government entities on different projects and programs. For example, we have strategic agreements with HAL and with Elcom Systems from the private sector which is spearheading our MRO activities in India. We are working closely with DRDO on collaborations in ToT and R&D, including on the Barak 8 air defense system which was developed collaboratively.
Many Indian MSMEs are looking at becoming part of the global supply chain after Covid, do you envisage that kind of engagement with the Indian industry? Can you elaborate on the process of approaching IAI?
This is something we have been working on with Indian companies since 2010 when we started incorporating the industry in India with our global supply chain and we continue to grow that cooperation. We believe that India plays a core and integral role within the industry and the ecosystem and it is natural for us to include them in our supply chain.
These partnerships come about in several ways. We have had a physical presence in India for 30 years and have offices in New Delhi and Bengaluru where we meet with potential partners. We participate in all of the defense shows in the country which is another opportunity to meet with potential partners as well as current ones where there may be an opportunity to grow that relationship further.
What future programmes are you looking forward to in India?
As a global leader in the UAV sector, we are excited by all of the new opportunities that present itself. In India, there is an opportunity to provide solutions to the military and to work together with both the public and private sectors to further capabilities. What’s most exciting to us is that the sky is the limit. With our visionary partners in India, we are working together on projects and programmes that seemed like a dream years ago.
According to you, which is the biggest market for business concern? What are the other markets you are eyeing in the near future?
There are several countries looking for advanced UAV capabilities and solutions but we recognize India as potentially one of the largest markets today.
Can you brief us about new technologies, especially in the realm of unmanned and intelligent that IAI is investigating in?
Our systems are state-of-the-art and incorporate the latest technology together with the combination of system of system capabilities providing our users the ability to view an area of interest very accurately and with persistent surveillance. Additionally, our UAVs have the potential to land and take off from remote locations without the need for ground system at the remote site.
Does IAI have any interest in building partnerships with academia and industry?
Absolutely, this is very important to us and we have partnerships with Universities all around the world, including in India. We also have a school of UAVs in India and plan in the future to increase the knowledge of UAV Ops & technology with local institutes and academia.
