Another Technology Transfer to India

The opportunity for the transfer of a missile technology to India will be explored within the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding recently signed with Thales, with the support of the United Kingdom.

India’s Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), a government enterprise has signed an MOU with Thales, a French group specialising in defense, to assess the opportunity for the transfer of technology of the STARStreak missile capability to India with the support of the UK.

Through the MoU, Thales and BDL seek to jointly offer a “Make in India” solution to help service growing international demand for this product, according to Thales’s website.

The STARStreak missile is in service in the UK army and has been procured by the defence forces of a number of countries worldwide.

The missile has the capability to defeat any air target, even armoured helicopters as the last line of defence.

The STARStreak, which is the fastest missile in its category, is equipped with three laser-guided darts, which cannot be jammed by any known countermeasure. The missile operates at a speed in excess of Mach 3 to defeat fast-moving threats and those with short unmasking times. The three-dart ‘hittile’ configuration maximises lethality. The highly-accurate laser beam riding guidance enables engagement of low-signature targets and is immune to all known countermeasures.

The missile system has already been integrated with a wide range of Radar, IR Sensors, and Command and Control systems. It can be used in a Man Portable Air Defence System (MANPADS) role as a single or multi-launcher configuration and is also available integrated into both light and heavy High Mobility Vehicles.

This initiative has the support of UK government, in the spirit of cooperation between the two countries, including under the Indo-UK Defence Equipment Cooperation MoU.

The association will play a strategic role not only in supporting the “Make in India” vision of the India but also in giving a boost to the bilateral relations between India and the UK.

Alex Cresswell, Executive Vice President for Land & Air Systems activities at Thales, said: “We are thankful to the government of the UK for their strong support to this initiative. Sharing technology has been one of the key ingredients of Thales’ strategy for India. We would continue to work in this direction and realise our objective to make in India and export from India through such endeavours.”

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