Dassault, RIL ink MoU for collaboration in defence sector

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Days after bagging the multi- billion dollar MMRCA deal, French defence major Dassault Aviation has entered into an agreement with Reliance Industries Limited for partnering in defence and homeland security sector in the country.

"Dassault Aviation, a major player in the global aerospace industry, has entered into an MoU with Reliance Industries, for pursuing strategic opportunities of collaboration in the area of complex manufacturing and support in India," officials of the two companies told PTI here.

The MoU comes soon after the Defence Ministry on January 31 had offered Dassault the multi-billion dollar deal to supply 126 combat aircraft to the IAF.

Sources said there is a possibility of the two companies working together in the Medium-Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) deal here. After finalising the deal, Dassault will have to reinvest 50 per cent of the worth of the deal back into Indian defence sector.

The aerospace and security division of the Reliance Industries is headed by Vivek Lall, who has been closely associated with the MMRCA deal while spearheading the campaign for Boeing in the deal.

Lall has earlier worked with American NASA and Raytheon. He was recognised at Cambridge, England, as one of the 2,000 outstanding scientists in the 20th century.

In the recent past, there have been efforts by the Mukesh Ambani-headed RIL to position itself in the defence, internal security and aerospace solutions sector.