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INTERVIEW |
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’Cobham is the market leader for air to air refuelling products and has over 75 years of experience designing, developing and manufacturing air to air refuelling solutions’ |
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-Managing director, Cobham India Private Limited, Lee Griffiths |
Managing director, Cobham India Private Limited, Lee Griffiths
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What are the current Cobham programme and potential interests across the three Services, the Army, the Indian Air Force and the Navy?
As Cobham has a wide range of leading edge solutions across the aerospace, land, sea and space sectors, it is difficult to cover all our India programmes but I would highlight our digital soldier, vehicle as well as command and control communication solutions. This is especially designed for the FINSAS, FICV and BMS Army programmes and our integrated land, sea and air surveillance capabilities for military, paramilitary and police forces, including ruggedized optical and infrared video cameras and wireless downlinks. We also provide aerospace solutions to the Indian Air Force and Hindustan Aeronautics, including our antennas, avionics, air to air refuelling, apart from weapons carriage and release products.
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What new systems and technologies is Cobham going to introduce to the
potential Indian users through DefExpo?
We plan to focus on three key areas at DefExpo this year; situational
awareness and force protection, which will include our mine detection,
world-leading bomb
disposal robots and our surveillance command and control centre. The next key
area is enhancing vehicle and personnel capabilities, which will demonstrate our
digital vehicle communication system and also our micro climate cooling unit —
this vest allows helicopter and armoured vehicle crews to operate comfortably in
extreme heat. Thirdly, we shall focus on a vital area of safety and
survivability — for the first time we will be demonstrating our PHANTOM
(Parachutist High Altitude Next Generation Technology Oxygen Mask) system, which
is used by US Special Forces and our MARS (Mobile Aircrew Restraint System)
which has been certified by the US Air Force for the Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawk
helicopter. I believe that we will able to demonstrate solutions to some of the
challenges that our military and paramilitary forces face.
Apart from the Indian military, does Cobham see a possibility of working with the Indian Paramilitary forces as well? Have you been in touch with the India ministry of home affairs?
Absolutely. We have interacted with a number of organisations, including the MHA, state police forces and paramilitary organisations, such as the National Security Guard. As I have mentioned, we have a wide range of capabilities in the homeland security sector, including sensors for the detection of IED’s, bomb disposal robots, border protection and urban surveillance solutions. I can’t say much more than this, given the sensitivities surrounding these matters.
What is the update on the Indian Air Force’s AJT Hawk programme?
I am sure that BAE Systems and HAL would be delighted to update you on this important programme. Cobham provides a wide range of equipment on the Hawk, both to BAE Systems in the UK and to HAL, here in India.
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