Safran’s Main Mission ‘Advantage India’

Safran is the leading supplier of aircraft engines, landing gear and carbon brakes for airlines operating in India and neighbouring countries, and plays a full-fledged role in the development of air transport in the country. Safran activities have quickly evolved to include strong local partnerships with Indian aviation industry based on joint developments, production and support licences for airplane, helicopter and rocket engines landing gear, navigation systems, as well as the associated support services.

Today, Safran has four facilities dedicated to products and services for fixed and rotary-wing aircraft:

• Safran Engineering Services India (SESI) in Bengaluru provides end-to-end engineering services to global and local customers. It embodies Safran’s proven expertise in aerostructures, electrical and mechanical systems, electronics and software.
• Snecma HAL Aerospace Pvt. Ltd. (SHAe) is an equal joint venture between Snecma and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), created in 2005. It manufactures high-tech components for CFM56 aircraft engines in Bengaluru.
• CFM Training Centre close to Hyderabad airport provides maintenance training for ground crews from airlines operating CFM56 engines. It can provide training for up to 500 maintenance technicians and engineers a year. It also offers training to engineers from helicopter operators using Arriel engines manufactured by Turbomeca.
• Turbomeca India Engines Pvt. Ltd, Safran’s helicopter engine support centre in Bengaluru, provides support services for its own engines to its Indian customers. Its main partners are HAL and Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd. Turbomeca is the first helicopter engine supplier to HAL.
• Snecma (Safran) and Max Aerospace signed an agreement last year, to create a joint venture called Max Aero Engines Private Limited (MAEPL), which will offer aircraft engine maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for M53 engines in India.

Safran provides multiple solutions for the Indian aerospace sector: Over 700 CFM56/Leap engines sold to almost all major Indian airlines; more than 1,400 Indian military airplanes and helicopters are powered and/or equipped by Safran; nearly 700 inertial navigation systems have been supplied by Sagem for Indian armed forces; and Messier-Bugatti-Dowty holds a 100 per cent share of the domestic market for wheels and carbon brakes on A320 and B787.

A trusted partner to Indian Defence Industry

Safran has been a supplier to the Indian armed forces since the 1950s, providing engines and/or equipment for combat aircraft, including Jaguar, Mirage 2000 fighters fleets, Hawk trainers, HAL Dhruv, Cheetah, etc. In early 2012, the consortium “Rafale International” (Snecma, a Safran company, is one of the three key partners in the consortium) started exclusive negotiations with the Indian Government to supply 126 Rafale multi-role fighters equipped with several Safran technologies including the engine, landing gear, wiring, inertial navigation system. Safran, through its company Sagem, also provides a wide range of avionics (inertial navigation systems, flight control systems and autopilots) and optronics systems for a number of combat platforms including aircrafts, submarines, artillery systems and tanks. Almost the entire Indian Air Force fleet is equipped with Sigma 95N navigation systems as a result of a long-standing partnership with HAL. Significantly, this navigation system has also been selected for the first prototypes of the MALE drone being developed by India. The New Delhi-based subsidiary Sagem Services India Pvt. Ltd. provides maintenance and customer support for these systems and equipment.

Equiping the Indian Armed Forces with a spectrum of Technology

Safran has provided aircraft technology for most of the Indian armed forced airplanes and helicopters like Jaguar, Mirage 2000, Su-30, Hawk, MiG-29K, Cheetah helicopter and its variants. The Dhruv helicopter and its variants are powered by the ‘Shakti’ engine which was jointly made by Turbomeca (Safran) and HAL. Sigma 30 Inertial Navigation System has been designed for artillery applications. The Sigma 40 Navigation System is used on Indian naval vessels. Sagem is a leading producer of FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control) systems, a critical component in aircraft like the Rafale, the A320 and B737.

Advancing Biometric Security in India

Morpho (Safran) makes Trace and detection equipment and is a leader in biometric technology and identity management and identification systems like (AFIS) automated fingerprint identification systems and face recognition solutions. Safran also operates the largest smartcard manufacturing facility in Asia which produces more than one million smartcards per day for a variety of applications. About 80 per cent of all Morpho’s smart cards are produced in India. A leader in biometric technology, Morpho (Safran) is one of the key partners in India’s Aadhaar project under the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

Main mision: Advantage India

Safran has been working closely with India to ensure the protection of both people and infrastructures, by providing ultra-modern, foolproof security solutions, especially for air travel, defence, law enforcement and commercial establishments. With the new government and budget that focuses on need for significant investment in the defence sector and investment, including from the Indian private sector, deserves encouragement.

The 12 per cent boost in the budget spending has opened the defence industry to foreign investment in a way like never before. Safran India is also widening its horizon to mark the recently launched ‘Make in India’ campaign by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. Stronger onus on engineering and R&T will be the way forward for Safran India. The recent signing of collaborations with the Foundation for Innovation & Technology Transfer (IIT, Delhi) and Society for Innovation & Development (IISC Bangalore) will help Safran to initiate research and development in the field of advanced avionics systems for the development of next-generation aerospace technologies in India. India’s growth is at the heart of Safran’s strategy and it continues to strengthen its presence in India, working hand in hand with its local partners to shape the future of India’s aerospace, defence and security industries. Safran’s main mission is ‘Advantage India’.