Ratan Naval Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, died on Wednesday at the age of 86 in Mumbai, leaving behind a group deeply entrenched in the Indian and global defense ecosystem.
Led by Ratan Tata, who was chairman of the salt-to-software conglomerate from 1991 to 2012, the Tata Group invested heavily in the country’s defense manufacturing sector.
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Highlighting this commitment, Ratan Tata in October 2022 praised the establishment of the Tata-Airbus joint venture for the production of C-295 aircraft in India. This was the realization of his decade-old vision of setting up a private aircraft factory in India.
This was also in line with the Tata Group’s long association with the defense sector, dating back to the 1940s, when the group supplied armored steel in support of the war effort during World War II. The Tata Group also produced the “Tatanagar”, an armored car manufactured in India during World War II and used by Indian forces under British command in the Far Eastern, Mediterranean and West Asian (Central) theaters East).
Even after India’s independence in 1947, Tata continued to invest in meeting the country’s military needs, with Tata Motors becoming the largest private mobility provider in the Indian defense industry.
Tata is not only a major supplier of mobility solutions to the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force, but has also reportedly supplied more than 100,000 vehicles to the country’s various paramilitary units and state police. It also exports military vehicles to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), ASEAN and African countries.
Since the early 2000s, Tata has also forged several partnerships with major global defense players to not only bring their platforms to India but also become part of their global supply chain.
Building C-130J Super Hercules components
US defense giant Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), a subsidiary of Tata Sons, established a joint venture in 2010 called Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures Ltd (TLMAL), which is the sole source of the C-130J worldwide Super Hercules military transport’s tailplane assemblies used in all new aircraft produced in the US. To date, the company has manufactured more than 220 tail surfaces.
Sikorsky helicopter cabins made in India
TASL also entered into a joint venture with America’s Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation to manufacture parts of the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter in India for both the domestic civilian and military markets. The plan included a $200 million manufacturing facility to become operational in Hyderabad by 2010. The first S-92 cabin was reportedly delivered in November 2010.
In October 2013, the joint venture announced that production of S-92 helicopter cabins had become 100 percent indigenous in India. It was also announced that the Indian operation not only assembled cabins in Hyderabad, but also produced all the parts – more than 5,000 associated precision components – needed for the assembly, before shipping the cabins to the US to complete the aircraft.
That same month, the Hyderabad factory also produced its 50th S-92 helicopter cabin.
Since then, this joint venture with Sikorsky has reportedly expanded to include the production of aerospace parts for other Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
Consolidation of its aerospace and defense activities
In April 2018, Tata Sons announced that it was consolidating its various aerospace and defense sector businesses into a single entity: Tata Aerospace & Defense (Tata A&D). The intention behind the establishment of Tata A&D was that it would enable Tata to better focus on emerging opportunities in aerospace and defense, increase its competitiveness in global markets and further the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the support the government.
Post-consolidation, Tata A&D was envisaged to leverage synergies from various entities within the group, including Defense Division of Tata Motors, TAL Manufacturing Solutions Limited (a subsidiary of Tata Motors), Strategic Engineering Division of Tata Power, Tata Advanced Materials Limited, and TASL.
Tata A&D would offer a full range of integrated solutions including land mobility solutions such as Combat Support Vehicles, Light Armored Vehicles, Mine Protected Vehicles, Wheeled Armored Amphibious Platforms (WHAP), Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) and Future Ready Combat Vehicle. (FRCV); airborne platforms and systems such as unmanned aerial vehicles, rotating platforms, mission systems and avionics; and weapons systems, sensors and C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computer and Intelligence) solutions such as radars, sonars, electro-optical systems, electronics for land systems, homeland security sensors, border management systems and command control and communications systems for air defense and naval combat.
Alongside this consolidation, Tata continued to expand its role in the global defense space.
Building Apache attack helicopter fuselages
Tata Boeing Aerospace Limited (TBAL), a joint venture between Boeing and TASL, inaugurated a factory in Hyderabad in 2018, which serves as the exclusive global manufacturer of AH-64 Apache attack helicopter fuselages, which are supplied to the global customer base of Boeing.
In January 2023, TBAL delivered the first fuselage for six AH-64 Apache helicopters ordered by the Indian Army from its factory in Hyderabad. By then, TBAL had supplied Boeing’s Apache final assembly plant in Arizona, USA, with more than 190 fuselages, with more than 90 percent of the parts used in these aircraft assemblies being manufactured in India by more than 100 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Tata Group also won Boeing’s 2022 ‘Supplier of the Year’ award from over 11,000 suppliers worldwide.
TBAL’s facility in Hyderabad also produces complex aircraft structures for the Boeing 737 and 777 models.
Giving the F-16 wings
In September 2018, TASL and Lockheed Martin announced an agreement to begin manufacturing wings for the F-16 fighter jets in India for export. A Tata press release stated that this initiative had positioned TASL to become the supplier of wings for all future customers and strengthened its role in the global F-16 supply chain.
In December 2021, the initiative achieved a milestone when Tata-Lockheed Martin Aerostructures Limited (TLMAL) successfully qualified the first Indian-built F-16 wing. The production of the wing of a powerful fighter jet added another feather in Tata’s cap, subsequently putting TLMAL in the position to compete for global orders for F-16 wings.
In the following years, Tata has further strengthened its presence in defense aerospace.
Setting up India’s first private sector aircraft factory
In September 2023, Airbus Defense and Space handed over the first of 56 tactical C295 transport aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF) to replace the aging Avros-748 fleet, under a 2021 contract that represents the largest order in the air force’s history was. C295 platform.
However, while the first 16 C295s will be assembled in Spain, the remaining 40 C295s of the IAF order will be manufactured and assembled in collaboration with TASL at a final assembly line in Vadodara, Gujarat.
The Vadovara facility is expected to be operational by November 2024 and the first ‘Made-in-India’ C295 is expected to be rolled out in September 2026.
The Vadovara C-295 factory will be India’s first private sector aircraft factory.
Setting up India’s first final assembly line for private sector helicopters
In January 2024, Airbus Helicopters announced its partnership with the Tata Group to set up a final assembly line for H125 helicopters in India. This facility will produce helicopters for both the Indian market and exports to neighboring countries.
This will be the first time that a private sector entity has set up a helicopter manufacturing facility in India. Under the partnership, TASL will work with Airbus Helicopters to set up the facility.
Flying to greater heights in the defense MRO sector
In September 2024, Lockheed Martin and TASL signed an agreement that outlined a framework for future business opportunities, including the establishment of a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in India to support the IAF’s existing fleet of 12 C-130Js and other global Super Hercules fleets.
If Lockheed wins the Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA) contract from the IAF, the agreement will see expansion of production and assembly of the C-130J in India to produce aircraft for the MTA program, subject to approval by both the American and Indian government.
Setting up the first Indian OEM defense factory outside India
Also in September 2024, TASL announced a strategic agreement with the Royal Armed Forces of Morocco for the local assembly of the WhaP 8×8 – a wheeled, lightly armored amphibious vehicle – at its production facility in Casablanca, Morocco.
According to TASL, this will not only be Morocco’s first major defense factory, but also the first defense factory to be established outside India by an Indian defense OEM.
This facility, which will be a 100 percent subsidiary of TASL, will initially fulfill the contracted quantity to meet the needs of the Royal Moroccan Army, after which it will become an export hub to meet the needs of other countries, especially in Africa. .
Through these investments, the Tata Group has consolidated its place in the Indian defense sector. It is involved in a number of major Indian military programs, including the development of the TATA Kestrel armored personnel carrier, production and maintenance of the Pinaka Multi-Barrel Rocket Launchers, Akash surface-to-air missile systems and control systems for the Arihant. -class nuclear submarine, and the production and development of the Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System.
